| Modification Notes |
Dia 1 (also designated p140mDia) and Dia 2 (also designated p134mDia 2), mammalian homologs of Drosophila Diaphanous, belong to a family of formin-homology (FH) proteins, which are characterized by having tandemly aligned FH1 and FH2 domains in their carboxy terminal regions (1-4). The amino terminus of inactivated Dia 1 binds to the FH1 and FH2 domains and is activated when GTP-bound Rho disrupts the intramolecular interaction of Dia 1 and converts it to an open conformation (1). Once activated, Dia 1 colocalizes with profilin and RhoA in dynamic plasma-membrane structures and induces the formation of stress fibers in conjunction with the ROCK mediated signaling pathway (12,4-6). However, Dia 1 and ROCK activities antagonize each other in order to determine the thickness and density of the stress fibersformed (1,6). Dia 1 has also been implicated as the gene responsible for non-syndromic deafness (1,7). |