title: Rheb is in a high activation state and inhibits B-Raf kinase in mammalian cells.
abstract: Rheb (Ras homolog enriched in brain) is a member of the Ras family of proteins, and is in the immediate Ras/Rap/Ral subfamily. We found in three different mammalian cell lines that Rheb was highly activated, to levels much higher than for Ras or Rap 1, and that Rheb's activation state was unaffected by changes in growth conditions. Rheb's high activation was not secondary to unique glycine to arginine, or glycine to serine substitutions at positions 14 and 15, corresponding to Ras residues 12 and 13, since Rheb R14G and R14G, S15G mutants had similarly high activation levels as wild type Rheb. These data are consistent with earlier work which showed that purified Rheb has similar GTPase activity as Ras, and suggest a relative intracellular deficiency of Rheb GTPase activating proteins (GAPs) compared to Rheb activators. Further evidence for relatively low intracellular GAP activity was that increased Rheb expression led to a marked increase in Rheb activation. Rheb, like Ras and Rap1, bound B-Raf kinase, but in contrast to Ras and Rap 1, Rheb inhibited B-Raf kinase activity and prevented B-Raf-dependent activation of the transcription factor Elk-1. Thus, Rheb appears to be a unique member of the Ras/Rap/Ral subfamily, and in mammalian systems may serve to regulate B-Raf kinase activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, CA 92093-0652, USA.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Im
authors.forename: Friederike C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: von Lintig
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shunhui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Wansong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qui
authors.forename: Shoaib
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chowdhury
authors.forename: Paul F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Worley
authors.forename: Gerry R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Boss
authors.forename: Renate B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Pilz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016466:CHO Cells; D006224:Cricetinae; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D020935:MAP Kinase Signaling System / Q000235:genetics; D020559:Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf; D019908:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-raf / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013045:Species Specificity; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D009479:Neuropeptides; C482123:Braf protein, rat; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf; D019908:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-raf; D020559:Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins