NCBI Summary:
This gene encodes a member of the Ras family of small GTPases. The encoded protein undergoes a change in conformational state and activity, depending on whether it is bound to GTP or GDP. This protein is activated by several types of guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs), and inactivated by two groups of GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs). The activation status of the encoded protein is therefore affected by the balance of intracellular levels of GEFs and GAPs. The encoded protein regulates signaling pathways that affect cell proliferation and adhesion, and may play a role in tumor malignancy. Pseudogenes of this gene have been defined on chromosomes 14 and 17. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, May 2014]
General function
Cell death/survival, Cell cycle regulation
Comment
Cellular localization
Comment
Ovarian function
Oogenesis, Oocyte maturation
Comment
Gene whose expression is detected by cDNA array hybridization: oncogenes, tumor
suppressors, cell cycle regulators. Also, relative transcript level reproducibly decreases during IVM Rozenn Dalbis-Tran and Pascal Mermilloda
Expression regulated by
Comment
Ovarian localization
Oocyte
Comment
Dynamic expression of Epac and Rap1 in mouse oocytes and preimplantation embryos. Wang JC et al. (2018) Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is an important secondary messenger that has long been recognized to control the initiation of meiosis through the activation of protein kinase A (PKA) in mammalian oocytes. However, PKA is not the only target for cAMP. Recent studies on cAMP-dependent and PKA-independent pathways suggest that Ras-related protein-1 (Rap1) is activated through its cAMP-responsive guanine exchange factors (cAMP-GEFs), which comprises the involvement of exchange proteins directly activated by cAMP (Epac) in various cellular processes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible implication of a cAMP/Epac/Rap1 pathway in mouse oocytes and embryos. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry assays demonstrated the expression of Epac and Rap1 in oocytes and embryos at different stages. Immunofluorescene demonstrated that Epac and Rap1 had different dynamic subcellular localizations and expression patterns in oocytes and embryos at different stages. It was therefore indicated that Epac and Rap1 may have multiple and specific functions during oocyte maturation and embryonic development.//////////////////