title: Integrin structure: heady advances in ligand binding, but activation still makes the knees wobble.
abstract: Integrins are one of the major families of cell-adhesion receptors. In the past year, the first structure of an integrin has been published, ligand-binding pockets have been defined, and mechanisms of receptor priming and activation elucidated. Like all major advances, however, these studies have raised more questions than they have answered about issues such as the mechanisms underlying ligand-binding specificity and long-range conformational regulation.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research, School of Biological Sciences, 2.205 Stopford Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, UK M13 9PT. martin.humphries@man.ac.uk
authors.forename: Martin J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Humphries
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: McEwan
authors.forename: Stephanie J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.forename: Patrick A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Buckley
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bella
authors.forename: A Paul
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Mould
mesh_terms: D002448:Cell Adhesion; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000737:chemistry; D016023:Integrins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D008024:Ligands; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D016023:Integrins; D008024:Ligands