The Small GTPase Ran, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2001

The Ras-related nuclear protein Ran is a member of the so-called Ras-superfamily of small GTP-binding proteins and hydrolyzing proteins. A variety of edited anthologies related to the Ras-superfamily have appeared over the last decade, but Ran has been under-represented in all of them. This under-representation is not due to the fact that Ran is unimportant or non-abundant. It is almost certainly because Ran was discovered and its functions elucidated only recently, and that some of these functions may not follow the typical Ras-superfamily paradign. Even workers in the field have difficulty keeping up with the Ran literature, and most outsiders rarely try even though they may be aware that major breakthroughs regarding the mechanisms of nuclear-cytosolic transport, mitosis and the maintenance of nuclear structure have depended upon an understanding of Ran function. The Small GTPase Ran is meant to provide specialists with a concise summary of some of the recent research in this area, along with background describing its initial identification and early characterization.

Contributors. Preface. Ran: An Atypical GTPase. 1. The Role of Ran in Nuclear Import; M.S. Moore. 2. Ran GTPase Regulation of the CRM1-Dependent Export Pathway; B.M. Paschal, C. Dargemont. 3. Role of Ran GTPase in RNA Processing and Export of RNA from the Nucleus to the Cytosol: Insights from Budding Yeast; A.K. Hopper. 4. Direct and Indirect Roles of Ran·GTP in Nuclear Export of RNAs in Higher Eukaryotes; E. Lund, J.E. Dahlberg. 5. The Role of Ran in Regulating Microtubule Spindle Assembly; A. Wilde. 6. Multiple Roles of the Ran GTPase During the Cell Cycle; M. Dasso. 7. The Multiple Roles of Ran in the Fission Yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe; S.S. Salus, S. Sazer. 8. Mitotic Control by Ran and RanBP1 in Mammalian Cells; B. Di Fiore, et al. 9. Ran Regulation by Ran GEF and Ran GAP; F.R. Bischoff, H. Ponstingl. 10. Structural Views of the Ran GTPase Cycle; K. Scheffzek, A. Wittinghofer. Index.