title: Tools of the trade: use of dominant-inhibitory mutants of Ras-family GTPases.
abstract: One of the most powerful ways of studying the function of a protein is to specifically block its activity within cells. Over the past decade, dominant-inhibitory proteins have emerged as popular tools with which to accomplish this task; these mutated proteins interfere with the function of their normal cellular counterparts or with proteins that interact with them. This approach has been used extensively in the elucidation of signal-transduction cascades, such as those involving Ras-family proteins. Here I discuss the power and potential pitfalls of using dominant-inhibitory Ras proteins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachussetts 2110, USA. lfeig@opal.tufts.edu
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Feig
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D002468:Cell Physiological Phenomena; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological; D020559:Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D016296:Mutagenesis; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins; D020559:Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins