Nitric oxide activates Rap1 and Ral in a Ras-independent manner.
Rap1 and Ral, the small GTPases belonging to the Ras superfamily, have recently attracted much attention; Ral because of Ral-specific guanine nucleotide exchange factors which are regulated by direct binding to Ras and Rap1 because of its proposed role as an antagonist of Ras signaling. We have previously demonstrated that nitric oxide (NO) activates Ras and proposed the structural basis of interaction between NO and Ras. In the present study we have shown that NO activates Rap1 and Ral in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. Using activation-specific probes for Rap1 and Ral, it was found that the NO-generating compounds SNP and SNAP could activate both Rap1 and Ral in Jurkat and PC12 cell lines. To investigate the involvement of Ras in NO mediated activation of Rap1 and Ral, we used PC12 cell lines expressing either the Ras mutant C118S (Cys118 mutated to Ser) or N17 (GDP-locked and inactive). We had previously shown that NO fails to activate Ras in these mutant cell lines. However, here it was found that Rap1 and Ral were activated by NO in these cell lines. The evidence presented in this study unambiguously demonstrates the existence of Ras-independent pathways for NO mediated activation of Rap1 and Ral.
Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar 143005, India.
Dev
D
Mittar
Prabodh K
PK
Sehajpal
Harry M
HM
Lander
D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D019169:Jurkat Cells; D009154:Mutation; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D009599:Nitroprusside / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D016716:PC12 Cells; D010396:Penicillamine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D020725:ral GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020827:rap1 GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018631:ras Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
C110881:S-nitro-N-acetylpenicillamine; D009599:Nitroprusside; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D020725:ral GTP-Binding Proteins; D020827:rap1 GTP-Binding Proteins; D018631:ras Proteins; D010396:Penicillamine