Can you talk about Ras as a G protein and the signal transduction pathway?
We know that the way by which a normal cell receives signals for proliferation is that on the surface of the cell there’s a growth factor receptor, which pokes out of the cell like an antenna that receives the signal that it’s bound EGF, epidermal growth factor, which floats through the medium. The receptor receives that signal and then sends the signal into the cell that informs the cell of this encounter and the cell ultimately responds by beginning to proliferate. There’s a whole chain of command. It’s often called a “signal transduction cascade” or a “pathway” that flows below the epidermal growth factor receptor or other growth factor receptors that ultimately reach into the heart of the cell, the nucleus. It’s a long complex bucket brigade and one of the partners in that bucket brigade is the protein called Ras. Ras receives signals from upstream the bucket brigade and in response to those signals it passes them on further down. This receipt and further transmission is sometimes
