Actin cap associated focal adhesions and their distinct role in cellular mechanosensing

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2012 papers

Abstract

The ability for cells to sense and adapt to different physical microenvironments plays a critical role in development, immune responses, and cancer metastasis. Here we identify a small subset of focal adhesions that terminate fibers in the actin cap, a highly ordered filamentous actin structure that is anchored to the top of the nucleus by the LINC complexes; these differ from conventional focal adhesions in morphology, subcellular organization, movements, turnover dynamics, and response to biochemical stimuli. Actin cap associated focal adhesions (ACAFAs) dominate cell mechanosensing over a wide range of matrix stiffness, an ACAFA-specific function regulated by actomyosin contractility in the actin cap, while conventional focal adhesions are restrictively involved in mechanosensing for extremely soft substrates. These results establish the perinuclear actin cap and associated ACAFAs as major mediators of cellular mechanosensing and a critical element of the physical pathway that transduce mechanical cues all the way to the nucleus.

Related Papers

• → Endothelial paxillin and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) play a critical role in neutrophil transmigration(2011)45 cited
• → Lack of Paxillin phosphorylation promotes single-cell migration in vivo(2023)22 cited
• → Paxillin Binding Is Not the Sole Determinant of Focal Adhesion Localization or Dominant-Negative Activity of Focal Adhesion Kinase/Focal Adhesion Kinase-related Nonkinase(2000)62 cited
• → Specific decrease in the level of Hic-5, a focal adhesion protein, during immortalization of mouse embryonic fibroblasts, and its association with focal adhesion kinase(2000)34 cited
• Expressions of focal adhesion kinase and paxillin in human scar tissues(2006)