Commentary abstract
Nature Cell Biology 1, E25 - E27 (1999)
doi:10.1038/10018
Tools of the trade: use of dominant-inhibitory mutants of Ras-family GTPases
Larry A. Feig1
- Larry A. Feig is in the Department of Biochemistry, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachussetts 2110, USA.
Correspondence to: Larry A. Feig1 e-mail: lfeig@opal.tufts.edu
Abstract
One of the most powerful ways of studying the function of a protein is to specifically block its activity within cells. Over the past decade, dominant-inhibitory proteins have emerged as popular tools with which to accomplish this task; these mutated proteins interfere with the function of their normal cellular counterparts or with proteins that interact with them. This approach has been used extensively in the elucidation of signal-transduction cascades, such as those involving Ras-family proteins. Here I discuss the power and potential pitfalls of using dominant-inhibitory Ras proteins.
