Differential regulation of neurofibromin and p120 GTPase-activating protein by nutritionally relevant fatty acids

Arachidonic acid, phosphatidic acid, and other lipids inhibit the catalytic fragment of neurofibromin more potently than that of p120 guanosine triphosphatase-activating protein (GAP). The effects of fatty acids other than arachidonic acid on full-length neurofibromin and p120 GAP, to our knowledge, have not been studied. In this study, we analyzed the effects of eight nutritionally relevant fatty acids on guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) stimulatory activity of full-length neurofibromin and p120 GAP. The fatty acids tested were saturated stearic acid, monounsaturated oleic acid, and three n-6 and three n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Analysis was performed by Ras immunoprecipitation GTPase assay. The full-length p120 GAP expressed in insect Sf9 cells and immunoaffinity-purified full-length neurofibromin were used. In contrast to neurofibromin, which was readily inhibited by stearic and oleic acid, p120 GAP was only weakly inhibited even at high concentrations (> 80 microM). Neurofibromin was also two- to threefold more sensitive to inhibition by other fatty acids tested. A chimeric protein in which the neurofibromin catalytic domain was fused to the NH2-terminal sequences of p120 GAP was used to determine that differential sensitivity to fatty acid inhibition maps to the catalytic domain of the proteins. These results indicate that nutritionally relevant fatty acids can modulate the GTPase function of c-Ha-Ras protein by inhibiting GTPase stimulatory activity of two Ras regulators, full-length neurofibromin and p120 GAP, at physiologically relevant concentrations in vitro.