Activation of Rac1 GTPase signaling is stimulated by phosphorylation and release of RhoGDI by the effector p21-activated kinase 1 (PAK1), but it is unclear what initiates this potential feed-forward mechanism for regulation of Rac activity. Phosphatidic acid (PA), which is produced from the lipid second messenger diacylglycerol (DAG) by the action of DAG kinases (DGKs), is known to activate PAK1. Here, we investigated whether PA produced by DGK initiates RhoGDI release and Rac1 activation. In DGK-deficient fibroblasts PAK1 phosphorylation and Rac1-RhoGDI dissociation were attenuated, leading to reduced Rac1 activation after platelet-derived growth factor stimulation. The cells were defective in Rac1-regulated behaviors, including lamellipodia formation, membrane ruffling, migration, and spreading. Wild-type DGK, but not a kinase-dead mutant, or addition of exogenous PA rescued Rac activation. DGK stably associated with PAK1 and RhoGDI, suggesting these proteins form a complex that functions as a Rac1-selective RhoGDI dissociation factor. These results define a pathway that links diacylglycerol, DGK, and PA to the activation of Rac1: the PA generated by DGK activates PAK1, which dissociates RhoGDI from Rac1 leading to changes in actin dynamics that facilitate the changes necessary for cell motility.
INTRODUCTIONRho GTPases regulate gene transcription, cell cycle progression, vesicular traffic, and cell polarity (Jaffe and Hall, 2005;Ridley, 2006) but are best known for their ability to coordinate alterations in cellular actin networks that regulate cell morphology. Such changes are necessary for directed cell migration during embryogenesis, inflammation, wound healing, and tumor metastasis (Burridge and Wennerberg, 2004). In mammalian cells, Rac1 promotes actin polymerization and focal complex assembly, leading to lamellipodia protrusion and membrane ruffle formation; Cdc42 regulates filopodial extension; and Rho promotes the assembly of actin stress fibers and focal adhesions (Ridley et al., 1992;Nobes and Hall, 1995).All Rho GTPases cycle between inactive GDP-bound and active GTP-bound conformations; the active versions interact with specific downstream effectors to elicit distinct biological responses. This cycle is tightly regulated by guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs), which activate GTPases by promoting the exchange of guanosine diphosphate (GDP) for guanosine triphosphate (GTP), and by GTPaseactivating proteins (GAPs), which inactivate Rho proteins by enhancing their intrinsic GTPase activity. A third class of proteins, guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitors (GDIs), regulates Rho GTPase function in as many as three distinct ways. RhoGDI, the best characterized member, 1) prevents GDP dissociation, 2) inhibits intrinsic or GAP-stimulated GTP hydrolysis (Chuang et al., 1993b), and 3) regulates GTPase partitioning between the cytosol and plasma membrane (Olofsson, 1999). The latter task is accomplished by sequestering the GTPases as soluble cytosolic complexes in which the C-terminal membrane-tar...