Ras-related protein Rab-7a is a protein that in humans is encoded by the RAB7A gene. Ras-related protein Rab-7a is involved in endocytosis, which is a process that brings substances into a cell. The process of endocytosis works by folding the cell membrane around a substance outside of the cell (for example a protein) and then forms a vesicle. The vesicle is then brought into the cell and cleaved from the cell membrane. RAB7A plays an important role in the movement of vesicles into the cell as well as with vesicle trafficking. Various mutations of RAB7A are associated with Hereditary sensory neuropathy type 1C (HSN IC), also known as Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome type 2B (CMT2B). Function Members of the RAB family of RAS-related GTP-binding proteins are important regulators of vesicular transport and are located in specific intracellular compartments. RAB7 has been localized to late endosomes and shown to be important in the late endocytic pathway. In addition, it has been shown to have a fundamental role in the cellular vacuolation induced by the cytotoxin VacA of Helicobacter pylori. RAB7A functions as a key regulator in endo-lysosomal trafficking, governs early-to-late endosomal maturation, microtubule minus-end as well as plus-end directed endosomal migration and positions, and endosome-lysosome transport through different protein-protein interaction cascades. RAB7A is also involved in regulation of some specialized endosomal membrane trafficking, such as maturation of melanosomes through modulation of SOX10 and the oncogene MYC. Mutations in the lysosomal pathway result in tumor progression in melanoma cells. Tissue distribution RAB7 is widely expressed; high expression found in skeletal muscle as it plays a role in the long-range retrograde transport of signalling endosomes in the axons. Gene The RAB7A gene is located on chromosome 3 in humans, specifically on the long q arm from base pair 128,726,135 to 128,814,797. The location was found using mapping which was first done by Davies et al. in 1997 to map the RAB7A gene to chromosome 3 using PCR analysis. In 1995 it had been mapped to chromosome 9 in mice by Barbosa et al. Finally, using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), Kashuba et al. were able to map the RAB7A gene to 3q21 in 1997. RAB7a was cloned by screening a human placenta cDNA library with a rat Rab7 cDNA to show that the RAB7a cDNA encodes a 207-amino acid protein whose sequence is 99% identical to those of mouse, rat, and dog Rab7a and 61%