Abstract

The CDC25 gene product of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been shown to be a positive regulator of the Ras protein. The high degree of homology between yeast RAS and the mammalian proto-oncogene ras suggests a possible resemblance between the mammalian regulator of Ras and the regulator of the yeast Ras (Cdc25). On the basis of this assumption, we have raised antibodies against the conserved C-terminal domain of the Cdc25 protein in order to identify its mammalian homologs. Anti-Cdc25 antibodies raised against a beta-galactosidase-Cdc25 fusion protein were purified by immunoaffinity chromatography and were shown by immunoblotting to specifically recognize the Cdc25 portion of the antigen and a truncated Cdc25 protein, also expressed in bacteria. These antibodies were shown both by immunoblotting and by immunoprecipitation to recognize the CDC25 gene product in wild-type strains and in strains overexpressing Cdc25. The anti-Cdc25 antibodies potently inhibited the guanyl nucleotide-dependent and, approximately 3-fold less potently, the Mn(2+)-dependent adenylyl cyclase activity in S. cerevisiae. The anti-Cdc25 antibodies do not inhibit cyclase activity in a strain harboring RAS2Val-19 and lacking the CDC25 gene product. These results support the view that Cdc25, Ras2, and Cdc35/Cyr1 proteins are associated in a complex. Using these antibodies, we were able to define the conditions to completely solubilize the Cdc25 protein. The results suggest that the Cdc25 protein is tightly associated with the membrane but is not an intrinsic membrane protein, since only EDTA at pH 12 can solubilize the protein. The anti-Cdc25 antibodies strongly cross-reacted with the C-terminal domain of the Cdc25 yeast homolog, Sdc25. Most interestingly, these antibodies also cross-reacted with mammalian proteins of approximately 150 kDa from various tissues of several species of animals. These interactions were specifically blocked by the beta-galactosidase-Cdc25 fusion protein.