Isolation of two novel ras genes in Dictyostelium discoideum; evidence for a complex, developmentally regulated ras gene subfamily.

In Dictyostelium discoideum, three ras genes (rasD, rasG and rasB) and one ras-related gene (rap1) have been previously isolated and characterized, and the deduced amino acid sequence of their predicted protein products share at least 50% sequence identity with the human H-Ras protein. We have now cloned and characterized two additional members of the ras gene subfamily in Dictyostelium, rasC and rasS. These genes are developmentally regulated …