RAS proteins and control of the cell cycle inSaccharomyces cerevisiae

Genes related to the mammalian H-, K-, and N-ras oncogenes were identified in S. cerevisiae by DNA hybridization techniques (for reviews, see Tamanoi, 1988; Gibbs and Marshall, 1989; Broach and Deschenes, 1990). According to the rules of yeast genetics (dominant genes are indicated by three capital letters followed by a number), the yeast genes were denominated RAS1 and RAS2 (collectively referred to as RAS). The corresponding RAS1 and RAS2 proteins were 309 and 322 amino acids long, respectively. The sequence similarity between the human and yeast proteins was very high, reaching 90% identity at the level of the N-terminal 80 amino acids. As a consequence, perfect sequence conservation was…