Members of the ras multigene family have been found in virtually all eukaryotes, from yeast to mammals. ras is required for normal cell growth in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and in at least some mammalian cells. These genes induce tumorigenic transformation of established NIH 3T3 cells by increased expression of a normal ras gene, certain point mutations or amino acid deletion. In tumours, point mutation appears to be the most common mechanism of activation. The ras proteins are found at the plasma membrane, bind guanine nucleotides GDP and GTP and possess a GTPase activity. At least some ras proteins that have been activated by single amino acid substitutions possess a GTPase activity that is lower than that of the normal version. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that ras protein stimulates its putative target(s) when GTP is bound to it, as is true for the G regulatory proteins or elongation factor Tu. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, ras has been shown to stimulate adenylate cyclase. However, there does not appear to be a direct interaction between ras and adenylate cyclase in mammalian cells.