… Humphries, Christoph Ballestrem; Vinculin controls focal adhesion formation by direct
interactions with talin and actin . J Cell Biol 3 December 2007; 179 (5): 1043–1057. doi: https://doi.…

Cellular locomotion is driven by repeated cycles of protrusion of the leading edge, formation
of new matrix adhesions and retraction of the trailing edge. In this study we addressed the …

Integrins are cell–substrate adhesion molecules that provide the essential link between the
actin cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrix during cell migration. We have analyzed αVβ3-…

Cell adhesion, spreading and migration require the dynamic formation and dispersal of
contacts with the extracellular matrix (ECM). In vivo, the number, availability and distribution of …

Background Cells sense the extracellular environment using adhesion receptors (integrins)
linked to the intracellular actin cytoskeleton through a complex network of regulatory proteins …

Cultured myofibroblasts are characterized by stress fibers, containing α-smooth muscle
actin (α-SMA) and by supermature focal adhesions (FAs), which are larger than FAs of α-SMA–…

* Department of Physiology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT,
UK‡ Department of Pathology, Centre Medical Universitaire, Rue Michel-Servet 1, CH-1211 …

Vinculin, discovered in 1979 (Geiger, 1979), is an adapter protein with binding sites for
more than 15 proteins. Biochemical and structural analyses have contributed to detailed …

Initial integrin-mediated cell-matrix adhesions (focal complexes) appear underneath the
lamellipodia, in the regions of the “fast” centripetal flow driven by actin polymerization. Once …

Migrating cells are polarized with a protrusive lamella at the cell front followed by the main
cell body and a retractable tail at the rear of the cell. The lamella terminates in ruffling …