The Role of ras GTPase Activating Protein in Human Tumorigenesis

Pathobiology ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
pp. 348-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eitan Friedman
2017 ◽  
Vol 399 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Cuellar ◽  
José María Valpuesta ◽  
Alfred Wittinghofer ◽  
Begoña Sot

AbstractRasal is a modular multi-domain protein of the GTPase-activating protein 1 (GAP1) family; its four known members, GAP1m, Rasal, GAP1IP4BPand Capri, have a Ras GTPase-activating domain (RasGAP). This domain supports the intrinsically slow GTPase activity of Ras by actively participating in the catalytic reaction. In the case of Rasal, GAP1IP4BPand Capri, their remaining domains are responsible for converting the RasGAP domains into dual Ras- and Rap-GAPs, via an incompletely understood mechanism. Although Rap proteins are small GTPase homologues of Ras, their catalytic residues are distinct, which reinforces the importance of determining the structure of full-length GAP1 family proteins. To date, these proteins have not been crystallized, and their size is not adequate for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) or for high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM). Here we present the low resolution structure of full-length Rasal, obtained by negative staining electron microscopy, which allows us to propose a model of its domain topology. These results help to understand the role of the different domains in controlling the dual GAP activity of GAP1 family proteins.


1995 ◽  
Vol 130 (3) ◽  
pp. 725-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
V Kundra ◽  
B Anand-Apte ◽  
L A Feig ◽  
B R Zetter

The PDGF receptor-beta mediates both mitogenic and chemotactic responses to PDGF-BB. Although the role of Ras in tyrosine kinase-mediated mitogenesis has been characterized extensively, its role in PDGF-stimulated chemotaxis has not been defined. Using cells expressing a dominant-negative ras, we find that Ras inhibition suppresses migration toward PDGF-BB. Overexpression of either Ras-GTPase activating protein (Ras-GAP) or a Ras guanine releasing factor (GRF) also inhibited PDGF-stimulated chemotaxis. In addition, cells producing excess constitutively active Ras failed to migrate toward PDGF-BB, consistent with the observation that either excess ligand or excess signaling intermediate can suppress the chemotactic response. These results suggest that Ras can function in normal cells to support chemotaxis toward PDGF-BB and that either too little or too much Ras activity can abrogate the chemotactic response. In contrast to Ras overexpression, cells producing excess constitutively active Raf, a downstream effector of Ras, did migrate toward PDGF-BB. Cells expressing dominant-negative Ras were able to migrate toward soluble fibronectin demonstrating that these cells retained the ability to migrate. These results suggest that Ras is an intermediate in PDGF-stimulated chemotaxis but may not be required for fibronectin-stimulated cell motility.


2014 ◽  
Vol 115 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danish Sayed

Stress granules (SGs) are dynamic, microscopically visible, cytoplasmic bodies that play a major role in mRNA metabolism (e.g. sorting, storage, decay) and induced in cells during stress conditions like starvation, oxidative strain or growth. With substantial role in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, these granules have never been studied during cardiac hypertrophy, or in the heart in general. Several studies have identified independent proteins, mostly mRNA binding proteins that are part of these granules, some of which are sufficient to nucleate the assembly in quiescent cells even without stress. One such mRNA binding protein is Ras GTPase-activating protein SH3 domain binding protein 1 (G3BP1), which increases during cardiac hypertrophy via posttranscriptional regulation. Thus, we hypothesized that G3BP1 might be involved in the induction of SGs during hypertrophy and hence in regulating mRNA processing and gene expression. Our aim was to investigate, 1) if these SGs appear in hypertrophied hearts and 2) if G3BP1 is necessary and sufficient to induce them during hypertrophic stimuli. In vivo staining of TIA-1/TIAR (SG marker) in mouse hearts subjected to sham or transaortic coarctation (TAC) surgeries showed accumulation of these granules with cardiac hypertrophy. Similar induction was seen in isolated, cultured, rat neonatal cardiac myocytes with hypertrophic stimulation (Endothelin1) or overexpression of G3BP1 alone (>60% of myocytes stained for SG). Conversely, switch to growth-inhibited conditions or knockdown of G3BP1 in hypertrophying myocytes was sufficient to prevent the assembly of these structures. Co-staining with other components of these granules like TIA-1/TIAR or proteins specific to P bodies, like decapping enzyme 1 validated these structures as SGs in cardiac myocytes. Interestingly, a long non-coding RNA, Gas5 (Growth Arrest Specific 5) that is validated binding partner of G3BP1 sequestered to perinuclear focal locations in myocytes stimulated with ET1, suggesting growth-induced recruitment to SGs. While we are still in process of examining G3BP1 targets that are recruited to SGs and their role in hypertrophy development, we have concluded that G3BP1 is required for the induction of SGs during cardiac hypertrophy


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