The importance of being K-Ras

The ras genes give rise to a family of related proteins that have strong tr ansforming potential. Typical in vitro studies fail to discriminate between the transforming activity of the Ras proteins. Although activating mutatio ns in ras genes are commonly found in human disease, they are not evenly di stributed between the different ras members. Instead, they are concentrated in k-ras. With the absence of evidence to suggest that k-ras DNA is more p rone to mutation than h-ras DNA, this imbalance in mutational frequency sug gests a special biological role for the K-Ras protein in vivo. (C) 2000 Els evier Science Inc. All rights reserved.