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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Apr 21.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2011 Sep 28;12(11):722–734. doi: 10.1038/nrm3198

Figure 4: Rho-GTPase Family in Adipogenesis.

Figure 4:

a | RAC-GTP inhibits adipogenesis. Integrins transduce extracellular structural signals into intracellular signalling cascades. Integrin α5, a fibronectin-binding protein, prevents the progression of preadipocytes to mature adipocytes in the absence of adipogenic stimuli by promoting the activation of RAC. Integrin α5 is repressed by adipogenic stimuli, leading to inactivation of RAC and terminal differentiation. b | Regulation of RHO determines MSC lineage fate. The shape of MSCs determines their ability to differentiate into adipocytes or alternate lineages by regulating RHO activity. Factors that favour the inactive form of RHO (RHO-GDP), such as p190-B RHOGAP, promote the adipogenic programme in these precursor cells, by inhibiting ROCK II activation of the actinomyosin cytoskeleton, which leads to the expression of pro-adipogenic WNTs. Conversely, factors that promote Rho-GTP lead to osteogenic or myogenic differentiation programmes, and this is mediated through the expression of anti-adipogenic WNTs and YAP and TAZ. Whether shape directly regulates p190-B RHOGAP or GEFT is unknown. Dashed arrows indicate an indirect interaction.