Comparative biochemical properties of normal and activated human ras p21 protein.

Human Ha-ras1 cDNAs encoding normal and activated p21 polypeptides have been efficiently expressed in Escherichia coli and the biochemical activities associated with each polypeptide compared. In addition to the guanine nucleotide binding activity, normal p21 displays a GTPase activity which is selectively impaired by a mutation which activates its oncogenic potential.