Ras proteins
are monomeric GTPases responsible for transmitting cell proliferation or
differentiation messages relayed from receptor tyrosine kinases.
Ras activity may be controlled by either GTPase-activating proteins
(GAPs) or guanine nucleotide releasing proteins (GNRPs) but due to Ras's
moderate ability to hydrolse GTP and the relatively high intracellular
concentration of GTP vs. GDP, GNRPs serve as the principle regulators of
this G protein's activity. Ras proteins are particuarly notable in
their strong association with many forms of cancer. It has been estimated
that at least 30% of all forms of human cancer are responsible, at least
in part, by an oncogenic form of Ras.1
A RasMol representation of the Ras homolog from E. coli, Era, may be found here: Image
Organism Nucleotide Sequence? Protein Sequence?
| S. cerevisiae | Yes |
|
| Homo sapiens | Yes | Yes |
| Escherichia coli | Yes | Yes |
| Mus musculus | Yes | Yes, mRNA |
| Drosophila melanogaster | Yes | Yes |
| Caenorhabditis elegans | Yes | Yes |
Reference:
1 Alberts, Bruce, Dennis Bray, Julian Lewis,
Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, James D. Watson. Molecular Biology
of the Cell. Garland Publishing, Inc. 1994. pp. 763-764.
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