1. Academic Validation
  2. FAK Structure and Regulation by Membrane Interactions and Force in Focal Adhesions

FAK Structure and Regulation by Membrane Interactions and Force in Focal Adhesions

  • Biomolecules. 2020 Jan 24;10(2):179. doi: 10.3390/biom10020179.
Paula Tapial Martínez 1 Pilar López Navajas 1 Daniel Lietha 1
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CIB), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Cell Signalling and Adhesion Group, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
Abstract

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase with key roles in the regulation of cell adhesion migration, proliferation and survival. In Cancer FAK is a major driver of invasion and metastasis and its upregulation is associated with poor patient prognosis. FAK is autoinhibited in the cytosol, but activated upon localisation into a protein complex, known as focal adhesion complex. This complex forms upon cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix (ECM) at the cytoplasmic side of the plasma membrane at sites of ECM attachment. FAK is anchored to the complex via multiple sites, including direct interactions with specific membrane lipids and connector proteins that attach focal adhesions to the actin Cytoskeleton. In migrating cells, the contraction of actomyosin stress fibres attached to the focal adhesion complex apply a force to the complex, which is likely transmitted to the FAK protein, causing stretching of the FAK molecule. In this review we discuss the current knowledge of the FAK structure and how specific structural features are involved in the regulation of FAK signalling. We focus on two major regulatory mechanisms known to contribute to FAK activation, namely interactions with membrane lipids and stretching forces applied to FAK, and discuss how they might induce structural changes that facilitate FAK activation.

Keywords

cell adhesion; cell signalling; focal adhesion kinase; mechanobiology; membrane interactions; structural biology.

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