NCBI Summary:
This gene encodes a small GTPase of the Ras superfamily. Rab proteins are involved in the regulation of diverse cellular functions associated with intracellular membrane trafficking, including autophagy and immune response to bacterial infection. The encoded protein may play a role in central nervous system development by antagonizing sonic hedgehog signaling. Disruption of this gene has been implicated in Carpenter syndrome as well as cancer. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2013]
General function
Intracellular signaling cascade, Tubulin binding
Comment
Cellular localization
Cytoplasmic, Cytoskeleton
Comment
Ovarian function
, First polar body extrusion
Comment
Rab23/Kif17 regulate oocyte meiotic progression by modulating tubulin acetylation and actin dynamics. Wang HH et al. (2019) Cytoskeletal dynamics are involved in multiple cellular processes during oocyte meiosis, including spindle organization, actin-based spindle migration, and polar body extrusion. Here, we report that the vesicle trafficking protein Rab23, a GTPase, drives the motor protein Kif17 and that this is important for spindle organization and actin dynamics during mouse oocyte meiosis. GTP-bound Rab23 accumulated at the spindle and promoted migration of Kif17 to the spindle poles. Depletion of Rab23 or Kif17 caused polar body extrusion failure. Further analysis showed that depletion of Rab23/Kif17 perturbed spindle formation and chromosome alignment, possibly by affecting tubulin acetylation. Kif17 regulated tubulin acetylation by associating with αTAT and Sirt2, and depletion of Kif17 altered expression of these proteins. Moreover, depletion of Kif17 decreased the level of cytoplasmic actin, which abrogated spindle migration to the cortex. The tail domain of Kif17 associated with constituents of the RhoA-ROCK-LIMK-cofilin pathway to modulate assembly of actin filaments. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the Rab23-Kif17-cargo complex regulates tubulin acetylation for spindle organization and drives actin-mediated spindle migration during meiosis.//////////////////