Diploid yeast cells repeatedly polarise and bud from their poles, due probably to the presence of highly stable membrane markers, and Rax2 is one such marker. It is inherited immutably at the cell cortex for multiple generations, and has a half-life exceeding several generations. The persistent inheritance of cortical protein markers would provide a means of coupling a cell's history with the future development of a precise morphogenetic form [1]. Both Rax1 and Rax2 localise to the distal pole as well as to the division site and they interact both with each other and with Bud8p and Bud9p in the establishment and/or maintenance of the cortical markers for bipolar budding [2]. Thus Rax2 is likely to control cell polarity during vegetative growth, and in fission yeast this is done by regulating the localisation of for3p [3]. This entry represents the second domain of Rax2 that is inserted within a beta propeller domain.

1: Multigenerational cortical inheritance of the Rax2 protein in orienting polarity and division in yeast. Chen T, Hiroko T, Chaudhuri A, Inose F, Lord M, Tanaka S, Chant J, Fujita A; Science. 2000;290:1975-1978. PMID:11110666

2: Interactions among Rax1p, Rax2p, Bud8p, and Bud9p in marking cortical sites for bipolar bud-site selection in yeast. Kang PJ, Angerman E, Nakashima K, Pringle JR, Park HO; Mol Biol Cell. 2004;15:5145-5157. PMID:15356260

3: Function of rax2p in the polarized growth of fission yeast. Choi E, Lee K, Song K; Mol Cells. 2006;22:146-153. PMID:17085965