Phosphorylation of an Overexpressed Yeast Ras2 Protein During the G1 Phase of the Cell Cycle

RAS proteins regulate growth and differentiation in evolutionarily distant systems such as vertebrates and yeast (for reviews, see Tamanoi, 1988; Gibbs and Marshall, 1989; Broach and Deschenes, 1990). At the moleular level, a key function of the yeast RAS1 and RAS2 proteins (collectively referred to as RAS) is to positively regulate the production of cyclic AMP at the onset of the G1 phase of the cell cycle (Toda et al., 1985; De Vendittis et al., 1986). At this stage, RAS proteins are transiently activated by the noncovalent binding of a GTP molecule. Reversal of the effect occurs by the hydrolytic splitting of the ’γ-phosphate of GTP, that leaves a functionally inactive RASGDP complex, th…