The small GTP-binding protein Rho links G protein-coupled receptors and Galpha12 to the serum response element and to cellular transformation.

Receptors coupled to heterotrimeric G proteins can effectively stimulate growth promoting pathways in a large variety of cell types, and if persistently activated, these receptors can also behave as dominant-acting oncoproteins. Consistently, activating mutations for G proteins of the Galphas and Galphai2 families were found in human tumors; and members of the Galphaq and Galpha12 families are fully transforming when expressed in murine fibroblasts. In an effort aimed to elucidate the molecular events involved in proliferative signaling through heterotrimeric G proteins we have focused recently on gene expression regulation. Using NIH 3T3 fibroblasts expressing m1 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors as a model system, we have observed that activation of this transforming G protein-coupled receptors induces the rapid expression of a variety of early responsive genes, including the c-fos protooncogene. One of the c-fos promoter elements, the serum response element (SRE), plays a central regulatory role, and activation of SRE-dependent transcription has been found to be regulated by several proteins, including the serum response factor and the ternary complex factor. With the aid of reporter plasmids for gene expression, we observed here that stimulation of m1 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors potently induced SRE-driven reporter gene activity in NIH 3T3 cells. In these cells, only the Galpha12 family of heterotrimeric G protein alpha subunits strongly induced the SRE, while Gbeta1gamma2 dimers activated SRE to a more limited extent. Furthermore, our study provides strong evidence that m1, Galpha12 and the small GTP-binding protein RhoA are components of a novel signal transduction pathway that leads to the ternary complex factor-independent transcriptional activation of the SRE and to cellular transformation.