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Bioinformatics Advance Access originally published online on December 11, 2008
Bioinformatics 2009 25(3):358-364; doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btn635
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Simulation of crosstalk between small GTPase RhoA and EGFR-ERK signaling pathway via MEKK1

Hu Li 1,2, Choong Yong Ung 1,2,3, Xiao Hua Ma 1,2,3, Bao Wen Li 2,4, Boon Chuan Low 5, Zhi Wei Cao 6 and Yu Zong Chen 1,2,6,*

1Bioinformatics and Drug Design Group, Department of Pharmacy, 2Center of Computational Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Blk S16, Level 8, 3 Science Drive 2, 3Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117543, 4Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117542, 5Cell Signaling and Developmental Biology Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117543 and 6Shanghai Center for Bioinformation Technology, Shanghai 201203, P. R. China

*To whom correspondence should be addressed.


  Abstract

Motivation: Small GTPase RhoA regulates cell-cycle progression via several mechanisms. Apart from its actions via ROCK, RhoA has recently been found to activate a scaffold protein MEKK1 known to promote ERK activation. We examined whether RhoA can substantially affect ERK activity via this MEKK1-mediated crosstalk between RhoA and EGFR-ERK pathway. By extending the published EGFR-ERK simulation models represented by ordinary differential equations, we developed a simulation model that includes this crosstalk, which was validated with a number of experimental findings and published simulation results.

Results: Our simulation suggested that, via this crosstalk, RhoA elevation substantially prolonged duration of ERK activation at both normal and reduced Ras levels. Our model suggests ERK may be activated in the absence of Ras. When Ras is overexpressed, RhoA elevation significantly prolongs duration of ERK activation but reduces the amount of active ERK partly due to competitive binding between ERK and RhoA to MEKK1. Our results indicated possible roles of RhoA in affecting ERK activities via MEKK1-mediated crosstalk, which seems to be supported by indications from several experimental studies that may also implicate the collective regulation of cell fate and progression of cancer and other diseases.

Contact: phacyz{at}nus.edu.sg

Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Associate Editor: Olga Troyanskaya

Received on August 22, 2008; revised on November 4, 2008; accepted on December 7, 2008

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