Rho GTPase Activating Protein 19 (ARHGAP19)

Members of the ARHGAP family, such as ARHGAP19, encode negative regulators of Rho GTPases, which are involved in cell migration, proliferation, and differentiation, actin remodeling, and G1 cell cycle progression. By large-scale sequencing of a human fetal brain cDNA library, Lv et al. (2007) cloned ARHGAP19.

The putative 494-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of 55.8 kD and contains a central RhoGAP domain and 2 nuclear localization signals. RT-PCR analysis of human tissues detected strong expression in fetal heart, brain, placenta, lung, liver, skeletal muscle, kidney and pancreas, but only weak expression in adult pancreas, spleen, thymus, and ovary. Immunofluorescence localized ARHGAP19 to the nucleus in human embryonic kidney cells.