The GTPase superfamily: a conserved switch for diverse cell functions

Nature volume 348, pages125–132(1990)Cite this article

Abstract

Proteins that bind and hydrolyse GTP are being discovered at a rapidly increasing rate. Each of these many GTPases acts as a molecular switch whose 'on' and 'off states are triggered by binding and hydrolysis of GTP. Conserved structure and mechanism in myriad versions of the switch—in bacteria, yeast, flies and vertebrates—suggest that all derive from a single primordial protein, repeatedly modified in the course of evolution to perform a dazzling variety of functions.

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  1. David A. Sanders

    Present address: the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Reserach, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02142, USA

Affiliations

  1. Departments of Pharmacology and Medicine and the Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, California, 94143, USA

    Henry R. Bourne

  2. was previously in the Department of Pharmacology and Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and at the CETUS Corporation

    David A. Sanders

  3. Department of Molecular Biology, CETUS Corporation, Emeryville, California, 94608, USA

    Frank McCormick

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Bourne, H., Sanders, D. & McCormick, F. The GTPase superfamily: a conserved switch for diverse cell functions. Nature 348, 125–132 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/348125a0

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