Browsing by Subject "Ras family"

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Open Access
Ras family of proteins: Cellular function, molecular control, and its role in oncogenesis
(Türk Biyokimya Derneği, 2011) Telkoparan, P.; Tazebay, U. H.
Small GTPases belonging to Ras family of proteins have key roles in regulating nearly every aspect of cell biology, such as cell division, cellular differentiation, vesicular transport and localization of cargo proteins, cell morphology, and gene expression. Depending on the extracellular signals, Ras family members oscillate between GTP-bound (active) and GDP-bound (inactive) conformations, and in the active form they interact with downstream effector molecules, leading to conformational changes in those effectors. As a result, extracellular signals trigger cellular responses, by means of initiation of a phosphorylation cascade. Functional cycles of Ras family of proteins include interactions with GTPase Activating Proteins (GAPs), and with Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors (GEFs) that regulate these small GTPases. GAP proteins activate intrinsic GTP hydrolysis activities of these small G-proteins, and convert active Ras-GTP to inactive Ras-GTP. On the other hand, GEF proteins interact with inactivated Ras-GDP molecules, and convert those inactivated molecules back to activated Ras-GTP, by triggering dissociation of GDP, and reassociation of Ras with GTP which is found at higher concentrations as compared to GDP in the cell cytoplasm. It is well known that mutations in Ras that block these molecules in GTP-bound forms by impairing GTP hydrolysis activity could trigger an uncontrolled and aberrant cellular proliferation. This type of mutations in Ras genes causing uncontrolled activation of the protein, are found in approximately 30% of human cancers overall, and they indicate the significance of mutations in genes encoding Ras family members in cellular proliferation related to de novo oncoge-nesis in human.
Open Access
RasGEF1A and RasGEF1B are guanine nucleotide exchange factors that discriminate between Rap GTP-binding proteins and mediate Rap2-specific nucleotide exchange
(Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2009) Yaman, E.; Gasper, R.; Koerner, C.; Wittinghofer, A.; Tazebay, U. H.
The highly conserved RasGEF1 family of proteins contain a C-terminal CDC25-Ras exchange motif domain and an N-terminal RasGEF-N domain, and are of unknown function and specificity. Using purified RasGEF1A and RasGEF1B proteins, as well as Ras family proteins, we established that RasGEF1A and RasGEF1B function as very specific exchange factors for Rap2, a member of the Rap subfamily of Ras-like G-proteins. They do not act on Rap1 or other members of the Ras subfamily. Although Rap2 was implicated in the regulation of cell adhesion, the establishment of cell morphology, and the modulation of synapses in neurons, no specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Rap2 was previously identified. Using reciprocal site-directed mutagenesis, we analyzed residues that allow RasGEF1 proteins to discriminate between Rap1 and Rap2, and we were able to identify Phe39 in the switch I region of Rap2 as a specificity residue. Mutation of the corresponding Ser39 in Rap1 changed the specificity and allowed the nucleotide exchange of Rap1(S39F) to be stimulated by RasGEF1B. © 2009 FEBS.