Alpha-PIX, also called Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor 6 (ARHGEF6) or Cool (Cloned out of Library)-2, activates small GTPases by exchanging bound GDP for free GTP []. It acts as a GEF for both Cdc42 and Rac1, and is localized in dendritic spines where it regulates spine morphogenesis []. It controls dendritic length and spine density in the hippocampus. Mutations in the ARHGEF6 gene cause X-linked intellectual disability in humans [, ]. PIX proteins contain an N-terminal SH3 domain followed by RhoGEF (also called Dbl-homologous or DH) and Pleckstrin Homology (PH) domains, and a C-terminal leucine-zipper domain for dimerization. This entry represents the SH3 domain of alpha-PIX.
There are two forms of Pix proteins: alpha Pix (also called Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) 6, 90Cool-2 or ARHGEF6) and beta Pix (GEF7, p85Cool-1 or ARHGEF7), which activate small GTPases by exchanging bound GDP for free GTP. betaPix contains an N-terminal SH3 domain, a RhoGEF/DH domain, a PH domain, a GIT1 binding domain (GBD), and a C-terminal coiled-coil (CC) domain []. It acts as a GEF for both Cdc42 and Rac1 [], and plays important roles in regulating neuroendocrine exocytosis, focal adhesion maturation, cell migration, synaptic vesicle localization, and insulin secretion [, , , ]. alphaPix differs in that it contains a calponin homology (CH) domain, which interacts with beta-parvin, N-terminal to the SH3 domain. alphaPix is an exchange factor for Rac1 and Cdc42 and mediates Pak activation on cell adhesion to fibronectin. Mutations in alphaPix can cause X-linked mental retardation. alphaPix also interacts with Huntington's disease protein (htt), and enhances the aggregation of mutant htt (muthtt) by facilitating SDS-soluble muthtt-muthtt interactions. The DH-PH domain of a Pix was required for its binding to htt. In the majority of Rho GEF proteins, the DH-PH domain is responsible for the exchange activity [, , , , ].This entry represents the PH domain of ARHGEF6 and ARHGEF7.
