The objective of this proposal is to obtain partial funding for a FASEB Summer Research Conference on Low Molecular Weight GTP Binding Proteins, to be held August 4-9, 1991 at the Vermont Academy in Saxtons River, VT. This conference is held under the auspices of the Federation of the American Societies Experimental Biology (FASEB) and will employ a format similar to that of the Gordon Research Conferences. Nine major sessions are scheduled with 3-4 invited speakers participating in each. The chairperson of each session will introduce the topic and provide a perspective to place the topic in context with the overall conference theme. Poster sessions will be held each afternoon of the meeting and the attendees will all be invited to participate. Several informal workshop sessions are also planned to focus in on critical issues in the field. This is the first major conference that is devoted to research on the entire low molecular weight G protein (LMWG) family. No other conferences on this topic area are to be held in 1990 or 1991 in North America. The ras oncogene proteins are the best characterized members of the LMWG family and ras serves as a prototype for studies on the other members of the group. Other LMWG include ral , rho, rab, rap, rac, smg p25, YPTI, SEC4, ARF, etc. There are many areas in cell biology and medicine in which low molecular weight G proteins have been found to participate and these will be covered in various conference sessions. Topics to be covered include protein trafficking in ER/Golgi/Endosomes, protein secretion, vesicle secretion, macromolecular assembly, microtubule assembly, Ca2+ signaling, oncogenesis, tumor suppression, NADPH oxidase activity, regulatory factors of LMWG, protein structure, and covalent modification/regulation of LMWG proteins. Many of these findings are very recent. Identification of additional LMWG's is continuing and information on the known LMWG's and their regulation is rapidly accumulating. . . there is a real need for a meeting to assess and consolidate these new findings. It is likely that scientists/physicians in a wide variety of scientific disciplines and fields will attend this conference in order to assimilate this new information.
