Connecting cell adhesion to the actin polymerization machinery: vinculin as the missing link?
Cell migration is essential to many physiological and pathological processes such as embryogenesis, wound healing or metastasis. This complex process involves a tight coordination between three essential steps - protrusion, adhesion and retraction. Although historically protrusion and adhesion have been linked through structural protein-protein interactions, a direct functional link between the two has long eluded biologists. Recent work from the Burridge laboratory now suggests that vinculin, a cytoskeletal protein involved in the building of the adhesion scaffold, could be the missing link that connects early adhesion sites to the actin-driven protrusive machinery.
Bailly
Maryse
M
Division of Cell Biology, Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, 11-43 Bath Street, UK. m.bailly@ucl.ac.uk
D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton / Q000502:physiology*; D000199:Actins / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D011108:Polymers / Q000378:metabolism; D016596:Vinculin / Q000502:physiology*
D000199:Actins; D011108:Polymers; D016596:Vinculin