Antibody of predetermined specificity to a carboxy-terminal region of H-ras gene products inhibits their guanine nucleotide-binding function.

The high prevalence of ras oncogenes in human tumors has given increasing impetus to efforts aimed at elucidating the structure and function of their p21 products. To identify functionally important domains of the p21 protein, antibodies were generated against synthetic peptides corresponding to various regions of the protein. Antibodies directed against a synthetic peptide fragment corresponding to amino acid residues 161 to 176 in the carboxy-terminal region of the H-ras-encoded p21 molecule specifically recognized H-ras-encoded p21 proteins. This antibody was also shown to strikingly and specifically inhibit the guanine nucleotide-binding function of the p21 protein. The inability of p21 protein to bind guanine nucleotides was associated with a lack of autophosphorylation or GTPase activities. These studies suggest that a region toward its carboxy terminus is directly or indirectly involved in the guanine nucleotide-binding function of the p21 molecule.