title: Research advances on structure and biological functions of integrins.
abstract: Integrins are an important family of adhesion molecules that were first discovered two decades ago. Integrins are transmembrane heterodimeric glycoprotein receptors consisting of α and β subunits, and are comprised of an extracellular domain, a transmembrane domain, and a cytoplasmic tail. Therein, integrin cytoplasmic domains may associate directly with numerous cytoskeletal proteins and intracellular signaling molecules, which are crucial for modulating fundamental cell processes and functions including cell adhesion, proliferation, migration, and survival. The purpose of this review is to describe the unique structure of each integrin subunit, primary cytoplasmic association proteins, and transduction signaling pathway of integrins, with an emphasis on their biological functions.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Production, Product Quality and Security, Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Jilin Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Production, Product Quality and Security, Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Jilin Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Production, Product Quality and Security, Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Jilin Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhijie
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Production, Product Quality and Security, Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Jilin Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guixin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Qin
keywords: Adhesion; Associated proteins; Biological function; Integrin; Signal transduction pathway; Structure