Nature
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Nature
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The crystal structure of human H-Ras complexed with the Ras guanine-nucleotide-exchange-factor region of the Son of sevenless (Sos) protein has been determined at 2.8 A resolution. The normally tight interaction of nucleotides with Ras is disrupted by Sos in two ways. ⋯ Second, side chains presented by this helix and by a distorted conformation of the Switch 2 region of Ras alter the chemical environment of the binding site for the phosphate groups of the nucleotide and the associated magnesium ion, so that their binding is no longer favoured. Sos does not impede the binding sites for the base and the ribose of GTP or GDP, so the Ras-Sos complex adopts a structure that allows nucleotide release and rebinding.