Rab 10a traffic controller in multiple cellular pathways and locations

Rab GTPases are key regulators of eukaryotic membrane traffic, and their functions and activities are limited to particular intracellular transport steps and their membrane localization is by and large restricted. Some Rabs do participate in more than one transport steps, but broadly speaking, there is a clear demarcation between exocytic and endocytic Rabs. One Rab protein, Rab10, however, appears to be anomalous in this regard and has a diverse array of functions and subcellular localizations. Rab10 has been implicated in a myriad of activities ranging from polarized exocytosis and endosomal sorting in polarized cells, insulin-dependent Glut4 transport in adipocytes, axonal growth in neurons, and endo-phagocytic processes in macrophages. It's reported subcellular localizations include the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), Golgi/TGN, the endosomes/phagosomes and the primary cilia. In this review, we summarize and discuss the multitude of known roles of Rab10 in cellular membrane transport and the molecular players and mechanisms associated with these roles.