Incubation of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae at very low (0.02%) glucose levels led to arrest of the cell cycle at the GO/Gj phase. Readdition of glucose to these "starved" yeast resulted in cell proliferation. In RAS1 and RAS2, that are homologous to mammalian ras-encoded proteins (3,4). Genetic analysis indicates that both RASI-and RAS2-encoded proteins are involved in activation of adenylate cyclase (5). RAS2 protein has been shown to activate adenylate cyclase activity in a cell-free system (6, 7). Yeast containing RAS2va'l9 (a RAS2 allele with a missense mutation, which is analogous to the oncogenic mammalian ras gene) has enhanced GTP-independent adenylate cyclase activity and increases intracellular cAMP (5). The RAS2vall9 strain tends to continue growth without undergoing Go/G1 arrest, presumably because of the high intracellular cAMP concentrations (5). Thus, yeast provides a useful model for studying the roles of oncogenes such as the ras gene in cell proliferation.Growth factors, such as platelet-derived growth factor and fibroblast growth factor, activate phospholipase C to induce hydrolysis of membrane inositolphospholipids (8,9). The initial products of this reaction are diacylglycerol and inositol trisphosphate (InsP3). Diacylglycerol remains in the membrane and serves as a second messenger for activation of protein kinase C (10, 11). Diacylglycerol is then metabolized to inositolphospholipids by way of phosphatidic acid (PtdOH) and CDP-diacylglycerol. Water-soluble InsP3 also acts as a second messenger for Ca2l mobilization from intracellular Ca2l stores (12). These two second messengers, as well as cAMP, may play crucial roles in the transition from the Go/Gj phase of the cell cycle in mammalian cells (13,14). Other materials were obtained from commercial sources.Yeast Strains and Plasmids. The S. cerevisiae strain SP1 (MATa leu2 ura3 trpl his3 ade8 canl) was used as the host for yeast plasmids. Starting from SP1, the isogenic mutants KKY1 (MATa leu2 ura3 trpl his3 ade8 can] rasl:: URA3) and KKY2 (MATa leu2 ura3 trpl his3 ade8 canl ras2:: URA3)