Browsing by Keyword "Ras-GEF"
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Publication Mammalian son of sevenless Guanine nucleotide exchange factors: old concepts and new perspectives(Impact Journals, 2011-03) Rojas-Cabañeros, Jose Maria; Oliva-Martinez, Jose Luis; Santos, Eugenio; Instituto de Salud Carlos III; Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa en Cáncer (RTICC) (España); Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer; Junta de Castilla y León (España)The Son of Sevenless (Sos) factors were originally discovered 2 decades ago as specialized Ras activators in signaling pathways controlling the process of R7 cell development in the eye of Drosophila melanogaster. The 2 known members of the mammalian Sos family (Sos1 and Sos2) code for ubiquitously expressed, highly homologous (69% overall) proteins involved in coupling signals originated by cell surface receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) to downstream, Ras-dependent mitogenic signaling pathways. Mechanistically, the Sos proteins function as enzymatic factors interacting with Ras proteins in response to upstream stimuli to promote guanine nucleotide exchange (GDP/GTP) and subsequent formation of the active Ras-GTP complex. In this review, we summarize current knowledge on structural, regulatory, and functional aspects of the Sos family, focusing on specific aspects of Sos biology such as structure-function relationship, crosstalk with different signaling pathways, and in vivo functional significance as deduced from phenotypic characterization of Sos knockout mice and human genetic syndromes caused by germline hSos1 mutations.