ADP Ribosylation Factor 3 (ARF3)

ADP-ribosylation factor 3 (ARF3) is a member of the human ARF gene family. These genes encode small guanine nucleotide-binding proteins that stimulate the ADP-ribosyltransferase activity of cholera toxin and play a role in vesicular trafficking and as activators of phospholipase D. The gene products include 6 ARF proteins and 11 ARF-like proteins and constitute 1 family of the RAS superfamily. The ARF proteins are categorized as class I (ARF1, ARF2,and ARF3), class II (ARF4 and ARF5) and class III (ARF6) and members of each class share a common gene organization. The ARF3 gene contains five exons and four introns.Tsai et al (1991) isolated and characterized the human ARF3 gene. They also showed that two ARF3 mRNAs of 3.7 and 1.2 kb are generated through the use of alternative polyadenylation signals.