title: Role of YAP/TAZ in cell-matrix adhesion-mediated signalling and mechanotransduction.
abstract: Signalling from the extracellular matrix (ECM) is a fundamental cellular input that sustains proliferation, opposes cell death and regulates differentiation. Through integrins, cells perceive both the chemical composition and physical properties of the ECM. In particular, cell behaviour is profoundly influenced by the mechanical elasticity or stiffness of the ECM, which regulates the ability of cells to develop forces through their contractile actomyosin cytoskeleton and to mature focal adhesions. This mechanosensing ability affects fundamental cellular functions, such that alterations of ECM stiffness is nowadays considered not a simple consequence of pathology, but a causative input driving aberrant cell behaviours. We here discuss recent advances on how mechanical signals intersect nuclear transcription and in particular the activity of YAP/TAZ transcriptional coactivators, known downstream transducers of the Hippo pathway and important effectors of ECM mechanical cues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padua Medical School, via Bassi 58/B, 35131 Padua, Italy. Electronic address: sirio.dupont@unipd.it.
authors.forename: Sirio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dupont
mesh_terms: D000217:Acyltransferases; D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D021982:Cell-Matrix Junctions / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular / Q000502:physiology; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D000091102:YAP-Signaling Proteins
chemical_list: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D000091102:YAP-Signaling Proteins; C088374:YAP1 protein, human; D000217:Acyltransferases; C108675:TAFAZZIN protein, human
keywords: ECM elasticity; ECM stiffness; Hippo; Mechanotransduction; YAP/TAZ