RAS guanyl releasing protein 4 is a

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

in humans that is encoded by the RASGRP4

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

chromosome 19 Chromosome 19 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. People normally have two copies of this chromosome. Chromosome 19 spans more than 58.6 million base pairs, the building material of DNA. It is considered the most gene-rich chromosome ...

. The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the Ras guanyl nucleotide-releasing protein (RasGRP) family of Ras guanine nucleotide exchange factors. It contains a Ras exchange motif, a diacylglycerol-binding domain, and two calcium-binding EF hands. This protein was shown to activate

H-Ras GTPase HRas, from "Harvey Rat sarcoma virus", also known as transforming protein p21 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the gene. The ''HRAS'' gene is located on the short (p) arm of chromosome 11 at position 15.5, from base pair 522,241 t ...

in a cation-dependent manner in vitro. Expression of this protein in myeloid cell lines was found to be correlated with elevated level of activated

RAS protein Ras, from "Rat sarcoma virus", is a family of related proteins that are expressed in all animal cell lineages and organs. All Ras protein family members belong to a class of protein called small GTPase, and are involved in transmitting signals ...

, and the RAS activation can be greatly enhanced by

phorbol ester Phorbol esters are a class of chemical compounds found in a variety of plants, particularly in the families Euphorbiaceae and Thymelaeaceae. Chemically, they are ester derivatives of the tetracyclic diterpenoid phorbol. Biological activity Protein ...

treatment, which suggested a role of this protein in diacylglycerol regulated

cell signaling In biology, cell signaling (cell signalling in British English) or cell communication is the ability of a cell to receive, process, and transmit signals with its environment and with itself. Cell signaling is a fundamental property of all cellula ...

pathways. Studies of a

mast cell leukemia Mast cell leukemia is an extremely aggressive subtype of acute myeloid leukemia that usually occurs ''de novo'' but can, rarely, evolve from transformation of chronic myeloid leukemia into the more aggressive acute myeloid leukemia. In a small prop ...

cell line expressing substantial amounts of abnormal transcripts of this gene indicated that this gene may play an important role in the final stages of mast cell development. Multiple transcript variants encoding different

isoforms A protein isoform, or "protein variant", is a member of a set of highly similar proteins that originate from a single gene or gene family and are the result of genetic differences. While many perform the same or similar biological roles, some isof ...

have been found for this gene. rovided by RefSeq, Apr 2009

References

Further reading