History
The first two ras genes, HRAS and KRAS, were first identified from studies of two cancer-causing viruses, the Harvey sarcoma virus and Kirsten sarcoma virus, by Edward M. Scolnick and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These viruses were discovered originally in rats during the 1960s by Jennifer Harvey and Werner Kirsten, respectively, hence the name Rat sarcoma. In 1982, activated and transforming human ras genes were discovered in human cancer cells by Geoffrey M. Cooper at Harvard, Mariano Barbacid and Stuart A. Aaronson at the NIH and by Robert Weinberg of MIT. A third ras gene was subsequently discovered by researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research, funded by the Cancer Research Campaign (now Cancer Research UK), and named NRAS, for its initial identification in human neuroblastoma cells.
The three human ras genes encode extremely similar proteins made up of chains of 188 to 189 amino acids, designated H-Ras, N-Ras and K-Ras4A and K-Ras4B (the two K-Ras proteins arise from alternative splicing).
Read more about this topic: Ras Subfamily
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