Skip to main content

Some NLM-NCBI services and products are experiencing heavy traffic, which may affect performance and availability. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience. For assistance, please contact our Help Desk at info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Molecular and Cellular Biology logoLink to Molecular and Cellular Biology
. 1990 Jun;10(6):2503–2512. doi: 10.1128/mcb.10.6.2503

Mutational activation of c-raf-1 and definition of the minimal transforming sequence.

G Heidecker 1, M Huleihel 1, J L Cleveland 1, W Kolch 1, T W Beck 1, P Lloyd 1, T Pawson 1, U R Rapp 1
PMCID: PMC360607  PMID: 2188091

Abstract

A series of wild-type and mutant raf genes was transfected into NIH 3T3 cells and analyzed for transforming activity. Full-length wild-type c-raf did not show transforming activity. Two types of mutations resulted in oncogenic activity similar to that of v-raf: truncation of the amino-terminal half of the protein and fusion of the full-length molecule to gag sequences. A lower level of activation was observed for a mutant with a tetrapeptide insertion mapping to conserved region 2 (CR2), a serine- and threonine-rich domain located 100 residues amino-terminal of the kinase domain. To determine essential structural features of the transforming region of raf, we analyzed point and deletion mutants of v-raf. Substitutions of Lys-56 modulated the transforming activity, whereas mutation of Lys-53, a putative ATP binding residue, abolished it. Deletion analysis established that the minimal transforming sequence coincided precisely with CR3, the conserved Raf kinase domain. Thus, oncogenic activation of the Raf kinase can be achieved by removal of CR1 and CR2 or by steric distortion and requires retention of an active kinase domain. These findings are consistent with a protein structure model for the nonstimulated enzyme in which the active site is buried within the protein.

Full text

PDF
2503

Images in this article

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Beck T. W., Huleihel M., Gunnell M., Bonner T. I., Rapp U. R. The complete coding sequence of the human A-raf-1 oncogene and transforming activity of a human A-raf carrying retrovirus. Nucleic Acids Res. 1987 Jan 26;15(2):595–609. doi: 10.1093/nar/15.2.595. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Berg J. M. Potential metal-binding domains in nucleic acid binding proteins. Science. 1986 Apr 25;232(4749):485–487. doi: 10.1126/science.2421409. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bonner T. I., Kerby S. B., Sutrave P., Gunnell M. A., Mark G., Rapp U. R. Structure and biological activity of human homologs of the raf/mil oncogene. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Jun;5(6):1400–1407. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.6.1400. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bonner T. I., Oppermann H., Seeburg P., Kerby S. B., Gunnell M. A., Young A. C., Rapp U. R. The complete coding sequence of the human raf oncogene and the corresponding structure of the c-raf-1 gene. Nucleic Acids Res. 1986 Jan 24;14(2):1009–1015. doi: 10.1093/nar/14.2.1009. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Buss J. E., Sefton B. M. Myristic acid, a rare fatty acid, is the lipid attached to the transforming protein of Rous sarcoma virus and its cellular homolog. J Virol. 1985 Jan;53(1):7–12. doi: 10.1128/jvi.53.1.7-12.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cleveland J. L., Huleihel M., Bressler P., Siebenlist U., Akiyama L., Eisenman R. N., Rapp U. R. Negative regulation of c-myc transcription involves myc family proteins. Oncogene Res. 1988;3(4):357–375. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Denhez F., Heimann B., d'Auriol L., Graf T., Coquillaud M., Coll J., Galibert F., Moelling K., Stehelin D., Ghysdael J. Replacement of lys 622 in the ATP binding domain of P100gag-mil abolishes the in vitro autophosphorylation of the protein and the biological properties of the v-mil oncogene of MH2 virus. EMBO J. 1988 Feb;7(2):541–546. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb02843.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Devereux J., Haeberli P., Smithies O. A comprehensive set of sequence analysis programs for the VAX. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Jan 11;12(1 Pt 1):387–395. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.1part1.387. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Evans R. M. The steroid and thyroid hormone receptor superfamily. Science. 1988 May 13;240(4854):889–895. doi: 10.1126/science.3283939. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Fredrickson T. N., Hartley J. W., Wolford N. K., Resau J. H., Rapp U. R., Morse H. C., 3rd Histogenesis and clonality of pancreatic tumors induced by v-myc and v-raf oncogenes in NFS/N mice. Am J Pathol. 1988 Jun;131(3):444–451. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Fukui M., Yamamoto T., Kawai S., Maruo K., Toyoshima K. Detection of a raf-related and two other transforming DNA sequences in human tumors maintained in nude mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Sep;82(17):5954–5958. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.17.5954. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Gillam S., Astell C. R., Smith M. Site-specific mutagenesis using oligodeoxyribonucleotides: isolation of a phenotypically silent phi X174 mutant, with a specific nucleotide deletion, at very high efficiency. Gene. 1980 Dec;12(1-2):129–137. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(80)90023-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Graham F. L., van der Eb A. J. A new technique for the assay of infectivity of human adenovirus 5 DNA. Virology. 1973 Apr;52(2):456–467. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(73)90341-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Hashimoto E., Takio K., Krebs E. G. Amino acid sequence at the ATP-binding site of cGMP-dependent protein kinase. J Biol Chem. 1982 Jan 25;257(2):727–733. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Henderson L. E., Krutzsch H. C., Oroszlan S. Myristyl amino-terminal acylation of murine retrovirus proteins: an unusual post-translational proteins modification. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Jan;80(2):339–343. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.2.339. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Huebner K., ar-Rushdi A., Griffin C. A., Isobe M., Kozak C., Emanuel B. S., Nagarajan L., Cleveland J. L., Bonner T. I., Goldsborough M. D. Actively transcribed genes in the raf oncogene group, located on the X chromosome in mouse and human. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Jun;83(11):3934–3938. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.11.3934. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Hughes S., Kosik E. Mutagenesis of the region between env and src of the SR-A strain of Rous sarcoma virus for the purpose of constructing helper-independent vectors. Virology. 1984 Jul 15;136(1):89–99. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(84)90250-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Huleihel M., Goldsborough M., Cleveland J., Gunnell M., Bonner T., Rapp U. R. Characterization of murine A-raf, a new oncogene related to the v-raf oncogene. Mol Cell Biol. 1986 Jul;6(7):2655–2662. doi: 10.1128/mcb.6.7.2655. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Ikawa S., Fukui M., Ueyama Y., Tamaoki N., Yamamoto T., Toyoshima K. B-raf, a new member of the raf family, is activated by DNA rearrangement. Mol Cell Biol. 1988 Jun;8(6):2651–2654. doi: 10.1128/mcb.8.6.2651. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Ishikawa F., Sakai R., Ochiai M., Takaku F., Sugimura T., Nagao M. Identification of a transforming activity suppressing sequence in the c-raf oncogene. Oncogene. 1988 Dec;3(6):653–658. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Ishikawa F., Takaku F., Hayashi K., Nagao M., Sugimura T. Activation of rat c-raf during transfection of hepatocellular carcinoma DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 May;83(10):3209–3212. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.10.3209. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Kamps M. P., Taylor S. S., Sefton B. M. Direct evidence that oncogenic tyrosine kinases and cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase have homologous ATP-binding sites. Nature. 1984 Aug 16;310(5978):589–592. doi: 10.1038/310589a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Keski-Oja J., Rapp U. R., Vaheri A. Transformation of MMC-E epithelial cells by acute 3611-MSV: inhibition of collagen synthesis and induction of novel polypeptides. J Cell Biochem. 1982;20(2):139–148. doi: 10.1002/jcb.240200206. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Knopf J. L., Lee M. H., Sultzman L. A., Kriz R. W., Loomis C. R., Hewick R. M., Bell R. M. Cloning and expression of multiple protein kinase C cDNAs. Cell. 1986 Aug 15;46(4):491–502. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90874-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Kolch W., Schultz A. M., Oppermann H., Rapp U. R. Preparation of raf-oncogene-specific antiserum with raf protein produced in E. coli. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1988 Feb 28;949(2):233–239. doi: 10.1016/0167-4781(88)90087-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Kozak M. Point mutations define a sequence flanking the AUG initiator codon that modulates translation by eukaryotic ribosomes. Cell. 1986 Jan 31;44(2):283–292. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90762-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Mark G. E., Rapp U. R. Primary structure of v-raf: relatedness to the src family of oncogenes. Science. 1984 Apr 20;224(4646):285–289. doi: 10.1126/science.6324342. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Mathey-Prevot B., Baltimore D. Specific transforming potential of oncogenes encoding protein-tyrosine kinases. EMBO J. 1985 Jul;4(7):1769–1774. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03849.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Moelling K., Heimann B., Beimling P., Rapp U. R., Sander T. Serine- and threonine-specific protein kinase activities of purified gag-mil and gag-raf proteins. Nature. 1984 Dec 6;312(5994):558–561. doi: 10.1038/312558a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Morrison D. K., Kaplan D. R., Rapp U., Roberts T. M. Signal transduction from membrane to cytoplasm: growth factors and membrane-bound oncogene products increase Raf-1 phosphorylation and associated protein kinase activity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Dec;85(23):8855–8859. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.23.8855. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Mulcahy L. S., Smith M. R., Stacey D. W. Requirement for ras proto-oncogene function during serum-stimulated growth of NIH 3T3 cells. Nature. 1985 Jan 17;313(5999):241–243. doi: 10.1038/313241a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Mölders H., Defesche J., Müller D., Bonner T. I., Rapp U. R., Müller R. Integration of transfected LTR sequences into the c-raf proto-oncogene: activation by promoter insertion. EMBO J. 1985 Mar;4(3):693–698. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03685.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Parker P. J., Coussens L., Totty N., Rhee L., Young S., Chen E., Stabel S., Waterfield M. D., Ullrich A. The complete primary structure of protein kinase C--the major phorbol ester receptor. Science. 1986 Aug 22;233(4766):853–859. doi: 10.1126/science.3755547. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Pellman D., Garber E. A., Cross F. R., Hanafusa H. An N-terminal peptide from p60src can direct myristylation and plasma membrane localization when fused to heterologous proteins. 1985 Mar 28-Apr 3Nature. 314(6009):374–377. doi: 10.1038/314374a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Prywes R., Foulkes J. G., Rosenberg N., Baltimore D. Sequences of the A-MuLV protein needed for fibroblast and lymphoid cell transformation. Cell. 1983 Sep;34(2):569–579. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90389-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Rapp U. R., Goldsborough M. D., Mark G. E., Bonner T. I., Groffen J., Reynolds F. H., Jr, Stephenson J. R. Structure and biological activity of v-raf, a unique oncogene transduced by a retrovirus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Jul;80(14):4218–4222. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.14.4218. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Rapp U. R., Heidecker G., Huleihel M., Cleveland J. L., Choi W. C., Pawson T., Ihle J. N., Anderson W. B. raf family serine/threonine protein kinases in mitogen signal transduction. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1988;53(Pt 1):173–184. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1988.053.01.023. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Rapp U. R., Reynolds F. H., Jr, Stephenson J. R. New mammalian transforming retrovirus: demonstration of a polyprotein gene product. J Virol. 1983 Mar;45(3):914–924. doi: 10.1128/jvi.45.3.914-924.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Schultz A. M., Copeland T. D., Mark G. E., Rapp U. R., Oroszlan S. Detection of the myristylated gag-raf transforming protein with raf-specific antipeptide sera. Virology. 1985 Oct 15;146(1):78–89. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(85)90054-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Schultz A. M., Copeland T., Oroszlan S., Rapp U. R. Identification and characterization of c-raf phosphoproteins in transformed murine cells. Oncogene. 1988 Feb;2(2):187–193. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Schultz A. M., Henderson L. E., Oroszlan S., Garber E. A., Hanafusa H. Amino terminal myristylation of the protein kinase p60src, a retroviral transforming protein. Science. 1985 Jan 25;227(4685):427–429. doi: 10.1126/science.3917576. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  42. Shimizu K., Nakatsu Y., Sekiguchi M., Hokamura K., Tanaka K., Terada M., Sugimura T. Molecular cloning of an activated human oncogene, homologous to v-raf, from primary stomach cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Sep;82(17):5641–5645. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.17.5641. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  43. Shinnick T. M., Lerner R. A., Sutcliffe J. G. Nucleotide sequence of Moloney murine leukaemia virus. Nature. 1981 Oct 15;293(5833):543–548. doi: 10.1038/293543a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  44. Short J. M., Fernandez J. M., Sorge J. A., Huse W. D. Lambda ZAP: a bacteriophage lambda expression vector with in vivo excision properties. Nucleic Acids Res. 1988 Aug 11;16(15):7583–7600. doi: 10.1093/nar/16.15.7583. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  45. Smith M. R., DeGudicibus S. J., Stacey D. W. Requirement for c-ras proteins during viral oncogene transformation. Nature. 1986 Apr 10;320(6062):540–543. doi: 10.1038/320540a0. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  46. Stanton V. P., Jr, Cooper G. M. Activation of human raf transforming genes by deletion of normal amino-terminal coding sequences. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Mar;7(3):1171–1179. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.3.1171. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  47. Stanton V. P., Jr, Nichols D. W., Laudano A. P., Cooper G. M. Definition of the human raf amino-terminal regulatory region by deletion mutagenesis. Mol Cell Biol. 1989 Feb;9(2):639–647. doi: 10.1128/mcb.9.2.639. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  48. Stone J. C., Atkinson T., Smith M., Pawson T. Identification of functional regions in the transforming protein of Fujinami sarcoma virus by in-phase insertion mutagenesis. Cell. 1984 Jun;37(2):549–558. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90385-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  49. Wasylyk C., Wasylyk B., Heidecker G., Huleihel M., Rapp U. R. Expression of raf oncogenes activates the PEA1 transcription factor motif. Mol Cell Biol. 1989 May;9(5):2247–2250. doi: 10.1128/mcb.9.5.2247. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  50. Wierenga R. K., Hol W. G. Predicted nucleotide-binding properties of p21 protein and its cancer-associated variant. Nature. 1983 Apr 28;302(5911):842–844. doi: 10.1038/302842a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  51. Zoller M. J., Nelson N. C., Taylor S. S. Affinity labeling of cAMP-dependent protein kinase with p-fluorosulfonylbenzoyl adenosine. Covalent modification of lysine 71. J Biol Chem. 1981 Nov 10;256(21):10837–10842. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  52. Zoller M. J., Smith M. Oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis using M13-derived vectors: an efficient and general procedure for the production of point mutations in any fragment of DNA. Nucleic Acids Res. 1982 Oct 25;10(20):6487–6500. doi: 10.1093/nar/10.20.6487. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Molecular and Cellular Biology are provided here courtesy of Taylor & Francis

RESOURCES