About RalA / V-ral Simian Leukemia Viral Oncogene:
The RalA is one of two proteins in the Ral family, and this family is itself a subfamily within the Ras family of small GTPases. Because of this role as a Ras GTPase, the proposed RalA therefore functions as a molecular switch. This switch in particular becomes active when bound to GTP and it is inactive when bound to GDP.
RALA Function
RalA can be activated by RalGEFs. In turn, it can activate any effectors to be found in signal transduction pathways, which can lead to a range of biological outcomes, such as promoting autophagosome assembly, or even secretory vesicle trafficking and tethering. Along with that, there are a range of other functions it can help with, such as downstream functions. These can include exocytosis, the receptor-mediated endocytosis, tight junction biogenesis, filopodia formation, mitochondrial fission, and cytokinesis, to name but a few major functions.
V-ral Simian Leukemia Viral Oncogene Mechanism
We can always learn a lot about a protein by looking at what kind of clinical significance it may have. When it comes to the RAl, this is very clear. In general, Ral proteins have been often associated with the progression of several major and serious cancers. This can include bladder cancer and prostate cancer. At the moment, we are not actually one hundred percent certain as to the exact mechanisms of this, but several studies have revealed that RalA promotes anchorage-independent growth in cancer cells. As a result, inhibition of RalA inhibits cancer initiation