Since 1982, Ras proteins have been the subject of intense research investigation by the biomedical research community. The wide interest in Ras has been stimulated for three key reasons.

First, their frequent mutational activation in human cancers establishes Ras proteins as important mediators of oncogenesis and targets for anti-cancer drug discovery. Second, Ras proteins act as signalling nodes activated by diverse extracellular stimuli, and activated Ras in turn regulates a diversity of cytoplasmic signalling networks. Third, Ras proteins are founding members of a large...