Abstract
RAS signaling pathways govern diverse cellular processes, are dynamic, and exhibit marked plasticity. Yet, these features also present a considerable obstacle to their study. Here, we report the use of a recently described RAS rheostat, Chemically Inducible Activator of RAS (CIAR), to study two poorly understood phenomena in RAS biology. First, we show that short-term activation of wild type endogenous RAS can desensitize cells to EGF stimulation. Second, we examine the phenomena of paradoxical activation of RAS/ERK signaling by RAF inhibitors. Specifically, we characterize the effects on RAS/ERK signaling kinetics of four RAF inhibitors, which stabilize distinct ATP-binding site conformations. These results demonstrate the utility of CIAR in conducting quantitative studies of complex features of RAS biology.