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Small GTPase ras and heterotrimeric G proteins composed of alpha, beta and gamma subunits are members of a superfamily of regulatory GTP hydrolases. They function as molecular switches which cycle between an inactive GDP-bound state and an active GTP-bound state, and are involved in regulatory biological processes from the outside of the cell to its interior. Binding of GTP triggers conformational changes in switch regions, which enable alpha subunit and ras to interact with effector molecules. Beta gamma dimers dissociated from alpha subunit are signaling molecules in their own rights. These G proteins activate various signal transduction pathways including activation of MAP kinases, phosphoinositide 3-kinases and small GTPases.

The proto-oncogene ras is an essential gene for the growth and the differentiation for various types of cells. Ras, ras gene product, is a GTP binding protein which controls the signal transduction by GTP hydrolysis. The ras gene is frequently activated by point mutations in various types of human cancers, which results in a decrease in the GTPase activity of its product. A GTPase-activating protein p120 (p120GAP) was identified as a factor which stimulates the GTPase of normal ras gene product p21 but not of the mutated. An NF1 gene was identified as a gene whose loss of function causes an onset of human disorder, neurofibromatosis type I. The NF1 gene encodes a protein which contains a region with a similarity to the catalytic domain of p120GAP. We recently purified a novel Ras GAP whose molecular weight and immunogenecity are different from those of p120GAP and NF1. We named the novel mammalian Ras GAP as Gap1m. Isolation and sequencing of Gap1m cDNA revealed that Gap1m is indeed a novel Ras GAP. We also succeeded in isolation of another novel Ras GAP gene, GapIII/Gap1IP4BP, which is closely related to Gap1m. Recently, it is shown that GapIII/Gap1IP4BP binds inositol-tetrakis phosphate compounds. The overview of these Ras GAP molecules is described.

Ras p21s are known as molecular switch for signal transduction pathways. They act as intracellular signal transducers of extracellular signals for growth and differentiation. Ras activities are regulated by the rotation between active GTP-bound form and inactive GDP-bound form. This cycle is regulated by the GDP/GTP exchange reaction and intrinsic GTPase activity of ras p21. The N116Y, v-H-ras mutant substituted the asparagine-116 with tyrosine, has dominant negative activity toward normal ras p21, and suppresses ras dependent transformed phenotypes. To investigate the effects of N116Y on ras-mediated signals for transformation, I constructed an inducible vector by recombination of the N116Y mutant to the downstream of human metallothionein promoter, and transfected it into an NIH3T3 cell line transformed by LTR linked normal c-H-ras, 18A. I isolated two 18A cell clones T1 and T6. Both of the cell lines were able to induce the N116Y mutant after the heavy metal treatment. These clones displayed flat reversion within 24 hours. In addition, these clones also inhibited colony formation in soft agar by epidermal growth factor (EGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), or serum stimulation. The N116Y mutant blocked GDP/GTP exchange reaction by each growth stimulation. On the other hand, this mutant could not have sufficient influence upon extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2) phosphorylation, which located downstream of ras-mediated signal transduction, provoked by PDGF and serum stimulation. These results suggest that ERK2 activation is not necessary and sufficient for ras-dependent transformation. There could be a divergency in signal transduction between cell growth and transformation. The signal suppressed by the N116Y mutant may play an important role in cellular transformation.

The ras oncogene products (ras p21s) are 21-KDa proteins with activities of GTP binding and hydrolysis. A number of proteins homologous to ras p21 have been discovered and collectively named small molecular weight GTP-binding proteins. These proteins undergo post-translational modification with isoprenoid residues attached to cysteine in their carboxyl terminal. With this modification, they attach to cellular membranes. The biochemical activities of these proteins, i.e., GTP hydrolysis and binding, are regulated by various regulatory factors such as GDP-GTP exchange proteins and GTPase-activating proteins, but little is known about the cellular functions and physiological pathways through which they regulate these functions. Botulinum C3 ADP-ribosyltransferase, a 23-KDa exoenzyme secreted from certain strains of types C and D Clostridium botulinum, specifically ADP-ribosylates the rho family of these GTP-binding proteins. This ADP-ribosylation occurs at a specific asparagine residue in their putative effector domain, and presumably interferes with their interaction with a putative effector molecule downstream in signal transduction. C3 exoenzyme, when incubated with or microinjected into cultured cells, ADP-ribosylates a rho gene product in the cells, and causes profound cell rounding with loss of adhesion plaques and collapse of stress fiber. Microinjection of an activated mutant of rho A protein, on the contrary, induced extensive adhesion and actin assembly in cultured cells. These results suggest that the rho family of proteins are involved in morphogenesis and motility of cells via assembly and disassembly of cytoskeletal systems, and botulinum ADP-ribosyltransferase is a useful tool for clarifying the molecular mechanism of these processes.

The molecular basis of opioid receptor mechanisms was studied in reconstitution experiments using purified or membrane-bound opioid receptors and purified GTP-binding proteins (G-proteins). mu-Opioid receptor exclusively purified from rat brains was reconstituted with G-proteins in lipid vesicles. The mu-agonist stimulated the G-protein activity in both G1 or Go-reconstituted vesicles. The stoichiometry revealed that one molecule of mu-receptor is functionally coupled to plural numbers of Gi or Go molecules and that mu-receptor exists in at least two different subtypes, mu i and mu o, separately coupled to Gi and Go, respectively. In addition, when the mu-receptor was phosphorylated by cAMP-dependent protein kinase, the mu-agonist-stimulation of G-protein activity disappeared, while the guanine nucleotide-sensitivity of agonist binding was unchanged. These findings suggest that there are independent domains in the receptor which are related to functional coupling to G-protein and to the agonist-binding modulation by G-protein. kappa-Opioid receptor agonist inhibited the G-protein activity in guinea pig cerebellar membranes. Further experiments revealed that the kappa-opioid receptor is functionally coupled to an inhibition of phospholipase C activity via an inhibition of Gi-activity. Such a receptor-mediated inhibition of G-protein activity may be the first demonstration of a signal transduction mechanism. The delta-opioid receptor agonist showed no effect on G-protein activity in guinea pig striatal and rat cortical membranes, while it stimulated it in NG108-15 cells. In all these membranes, the delta-agonist binding was markedly reduced by GTP gamma S in the presence of MgCl2. These findings suggest that delta-receptors in the brain might be coupled to G-protein without signal transduction.