Phylogenetic Analysis of RhoGAP Domain-Containing Proteins

Proteins containing an Rho GTPase-activating protein (RhoGAP) domain work as molecular switches involved in the regulation of diverse cellular functions. The ability of these GTPases to regulate a wide number of cellular processes comes from their interactions with multiple effectors and inhibitors, including the RhoGAP family, which stimulates their intrinsic GTPase activity. Here, a phylogenetic approach was applied to study the evolutionary relationship among 59 RhoGAP domain-containing proteins. The sequences were aligned by their RhoGAP domains and the phylogenetic hypotheses were generated using Maximum Parsimony and Bayesian analyses. The character tracing of two traits, GTPase activity and presence of other domains, indicated a significant phylogenetic signal for both of them.