[Yeast and the control of RAS by exchange factors]

Abstract

Two isofunctional ras genes are present in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Albeit their targets differ between mammals and yeast, they have conserved their regulators. The study of their positive regulators, guanine nucleotide exchange factors, have provided routes to the discovery of their regulatory elements in mammals. Ras are signal transducing proteins involved in the activation of the adenylate cyclase in yeast. They are activated by Cdc25p which has been shown to contain a Guanine Exchange Factor domain (GEF). SDC25, a gene partially homologous to CDC25, also contains a GEF domain but seems to be under a different regulation. It has been used to demonstrate the first guanine exchange activity on ras in vitro and was shown to be active by gene transfer in mammalian cells. Both Cdc25p and Sdc25p are associated to membrane and contain SH3 domains which are supposed to bind still unidentified proteins. Cdc25p is an unstable protein which contains a cyclin destruction box. Therefore activating effect on ras could be regulated by its level of expression. We have contributed to the isolation of a mammalian CDC25 homolog and we are analysing by directed mutagenesis key positions for ras activation of the human homolog HGRF55. That was performed by complementation analysis of yeast mutants as well as by use of two hybrid system. These approaches led us to the discovery of residues involved in ras interaction.