Background information
The Ras-related superfamily of guanine nucleotide binding proteins, which includes the Ral/Rec, Rap, R-Ras, and Rho/Rab subfamilies, exhibit 30-60% homology with Ras p21 (1). Accumulating data suggests an important role for Rab proteins, either in endocytosis or in biosynthetic protein transport (1,2). The transport of newly synthesized proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum to various stacks of the Golgi complex and to secretory vesicles involves at each stage the movement of carrier vesicles, a process that appears to involve Rab protein function (1-6). The possibility that Rab proteins might also direct the exocytosis from secretory vesicles to the plasma membrane is supported by the observation that in yeast, the SEC4 protein, which is 40% homologous to Rab proteins, is associated with secretory vesicles (9). Several members of the Rab subfamily have been identified, each of which is found at a particular stage of a membrane transport pathway (3-8).
