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STRUCTURAL BASIS; DOMAINBiochemistry & Molecular Biology; Cell Biology;
Abstract:
Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a central mediator of cell adhesion, acting both as a scaffold and as catalytically active kinase. Acebronet al(2020) use cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to visualize the dramatic structural changes that occur uponFAKrecruitment to the plasma membrane, which releasesFAKautoinhibition and induces its oligomerization. Since activity control via autoinhibition and protein clustering are features also utilized by other focal adhesion (FA) proteins, they have moved center stage in the endeavor to understand the complex process of cell adhesion regulation.
