title: Role of glycine-82 as a pivot point during the transition from the inactive to the active form of the yeast Ras2 protein.
abstract: Ras proteins bind either GDP or GTP with high affinity. However, only the GTP-bound form of the yeast Ras2 protein is able to stimulate adenylyl cyclase. To identify amino acid residues that play a role in the conversion from the GDP-bound to the GTP-bound state of Ras proteins, we have searched for single amino acid substitutions that selectively affected the binding of one of the two nucleotides. We have found that the replacement of glycine-82 of the Ras2 protein by serine resulted in an increased rate of dissociation of Gpp(NH)p, a nonhydrolysable analog of GTP, while the GDP dissociation rate was not significantly modified. Glycine-82 resides in a region that is highly conserved between the yeast and human proteins. However, this residue is structurally distant from residues that participate in the binding of the nucleotide, as determined from the crystal structure of the human H-ras gene product. Therefore, the ability of the nucleotide binding site to discriminate between GDP and GTP is dependent not only on residues that are spatially close to the nucleotide, but also on distant amino acids. This is in agreement with the role of glycine-82 as a pivot point during the transition from the GDP- to the GTP-bound form of the Ras proteins.
authors.affiliation: Differentiation Structure Programme, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kavounis
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Verrotti
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Vendittis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bozopoulos
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Di Blasi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zahn
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Crechet
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parmeggiani
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tsernoglou
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Fasano
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D005998:Glycine; D006153:Guanosine Diphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D006160:Guanosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D006165:Guanylyl Imidodiphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D008961:Models, Structural; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D010957:Plasmids; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D018631:ras Proteins
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D006153:Guanosine Diphosphate; D006165:Guanylyl Imidodiphosphate; D006160:Guanosine Triphosphate; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins; C489015:RAS2 protein, S cerevisiae; D018631:ras Proteins; D005998:Glycine