Defective Dendrite Elongation but Normal Fertility in Mice Lacking the Rho-Like GTPase Activator Dbl

Abstract
Unlike the related Faciogenital dysplasia protein (FGD1) and Vav1 knockouts, mice lacking Dbl undergo normal embryonic development ,and though Dbl is expressed predomiantly in the testis and brain, both organs were apparently normal. Dbl was one of the first Rho activators (GEFs) to be described, and acts on a number of GTPases including Cdc42, Rac and RhoA. Only subtle changes in the length of cortical pyramidal neuron dendrites...