Identification of guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) for the Rap1 GTPase. Regulation of MR-GEF by M-Ras-GTP interaction.
Although the Ras subfamily of GTPases consists of approximately 20 members, only a limited number of guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) that couple extracellular stimuli to Ras protein activation have been identified. Furthermore, no novel downstream effectors have been identified for the M-Ras/R-Ras3 GTPase. Here we report the identification and ... characterization of three Ras family GEFs that are most abundantly expressed in brain. Two of these GEFs, MR-GEF (M-Ras-regulated GEF, KIAA0277) and PDZ-GEF (KIAA0313) bound specifically to nucleotide-free Rap1 and Rap1/Rap2, respectively. Both proteins functioned as Rap1 GEFs in vivo. A third GEF, GRP3 (KIAA0846), activated both Ras and Rap1 and shared significant sequence homology with the calcium- and diacylglycerol-activated GEFs, GRP1 and GRP2. Similarly to previously identified Rap GEFs, C3G and Smg GDS, each of the newly identified exchange factors promoted the activation of Elk-1 in the LNCaP prostate tumor cell line where B-Raf can couple Rap1 to the extracellular receptor-activated kinase cascade. MR-GEF and PDZ-GEF both contain a region immediately N-terminal to their catalytic domains that share sequence homology with Ras-associating or RalGDS/AF6 homology (RA) domains. By searching for in vitro interaction with Ras-GTP proteins, PDZ-GEF specifically bound to Rap1A- and Rap2B-GTP, whereas MR-GEF bound to M-Ras-GTP. C-terminally truncated MR-GEF, lacking the GEF catalytic domain, retained its ability to bind M-Ras-GTP, suggesting that the RA domain is important for this interaction. Co-immunoprecipitation studies confirmed the interaction of M-Ras-GTP with MR-GEF in vivo. In addition, a constitutively active M-Ras(71L) mutant inhibited the ability of MR-GEF to promote Rap1A activation in a dose-dependent manner. These data suggest that M-Ras may inhibit Rap1 in order to elicit its biological effects.
Mesh Terms:
Amino Acid Sequence, Blotting, Northern, Brain, Calcium, Catalytic Domain, Cell Line, DNA, Complementary, DNA-Binding Proteins, Diglycerides, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Enzyme Activation, Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors, Humans, Molecular Sequence Data, Mutagenesis, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Plasmids, Precipitin Tests, Protein Binding, Protein Structure, Tertiary, Proto-Oncogene Proteins, Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-raf, Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear, Sequence Homology, Amino Acid, Tissue Distribution, Transcription Factors, Tumor Cells, Cultured, ets-Domain Protein Elk-1, rap GTP-Binding Proteins, rap1 GTP-Binding Proteins, ras Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors
Amino Acid Sequence, Blotting, Northern, Brain, Calcium, Catalytic Domain, Cell Line, DNA, Complementary, DNA-Binding Proteins, Diglycerides, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Enzyme Activation, Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors, Humans, Molecular Sequence Data, Mutagenesis, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Plasmids, Precipitin Tests, Protein Binding, Protein Structure, Tertiary, Proto-Oncogene Proteins, Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-raf, Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear, Sequence Homology, Amino Acid, Tissue Distribution, Transcription Factors, Tumor Cells, Cultured, ets-Domain Protein Elk-1, rap GTP-Binding Proteins, rap1 GTP-Binding Proteins, ras Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors
J. Biol. Chem.
Date: Nov. 10, 2000
PubMed ID: 10934204
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