RAB17, Member RAS Oncogene Family (RAB17)

The Rab subfamily of small GTPases plays an important role in the regulation of membrane trafficking. RAB17 is an epithelial cell-specific GTPase. Lutcke et al. (1993) cloned a mouse rab17 cDNA from an embryonic kidney cDNA library. Northern blot analysis detected rab17 mRNA in kidney, liver, and intestine but not in organs lacking epithelial cells or in fibroblasts. In situ hybridization studies revealed that rab17 is restricted to epithelial cells. Immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy on kidney sections localized rab17 to the basolateral plasma membrane and to apical tubules.Lutcke et al. (1993) showed that mouse rab17 is absent from the mesenchymal precursors but is induced upon their differentiation into polarized epithelial cells.