Vinculin--a dynamic regulator of cell adhesion

The ability of cells to tightly adhere to one another and to the extracellular matrix is fundamentally important in numerous biological processes, including embryogenesis, wound healing and maintenance of tissue integrity. Vinculin, a protein localized at the cytoplasmic face of cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesions, is required for strong cell adhesion. Two new crystal structures reveal that vinculin exhibits a high degree of structural plasticity upon ligand binding that might promote rapid changes in cell adhesion.