Crosstalk between Rac and Rho GTPase activity mediated by Arhgef11 and Arhgef12 coordinates cell protrusion-retraction cycles.
Rho GTPase crosstalk is thought to play a key role in the spatio-temporal coordination of cytoskeletal dynamics during cell migration. Here, we directly investigated crosstalk between the major Rho GTPases Rho, Rac and Cdc42 by combining acute activity perturbation with activity measurements in individual, mammalian cells. As expected for their proposed mutual inhibition, we confirmed that Rho inhibits Rac activity. However, surprisingly, we found that Rac strongly stimulates Rho activity. We hypothesized that this crosstalk might play a role in mediating the tight spatio-temporal coupling between cell protrusions and retractions that are typically observed during mesenchymal cell migration. Using new, improved activity sensors for endogenous Rho GTPases, we find that Rac activation is tightly and precisely coupled to local cell protrusions, followed by Rho activation during retraction. In a screen for potential crosstalk mediators, we find that a subset of the Rho activating Lbc-type GEFs, in particular Arhgef11 and Arhgef12, are enriched at transient cell protrusions and retractions. Furthermore, via an optogenetic approach, we show that these Lbc GEFs are recruited to the plasma membrane by active Rac, suggesting that they might link cell protrusion and retraction by mediating Rac/Rho activity crosstalk. Indeed, depletion of these GEFs impaired cell protrusion-retraction dynamics, which was accompanied by a decrease in migration distance and an increase in migration directionality. Thus, our study shows that Arhgef11 and Arhgef12 facilitate effective exploratory cell migration by coordinating the central cell morphogenic processes of cell protrusion and retraction by coupling the activity of the associated small GTPases Rac and Rho.