Vinculin plays a pivotal role in cell adhesion and migration by providing the link between the actin cytoskeleton and the transmembrane receptors, integrin and cadherin. We used a combination of electron microscopy, computational docking, and biochemistry to provide an atomic model of how the vinculin tail binds actin filaments. The vinculin tail actin binding site comprises two distinct regions. One of these regions is exposed in the full-length autoinhibited conformation of vinculin, whereas the second site is sterically occluded by vinculin's N-terminal domain. The partial accessibility of the F-actin binding site in the autoinhibited full-length vinculin structure suggests that F-actin can act as part of a combinatorial input framework with other binding partners such as alpha-catenin or talin to induce vinculin head-tail dissociation, thus promoting vinculin activation. Furthermore, binding to F-actin potentiates a local rearrangement in the vinculin tail that in turn promotes vinculin dimerization and, hence, formation of actin bundles.

Arp2/3 complex initiates the growth of branched actin‐filament networks by inducing actin polymerization from the sides of pre‐existing filaments. Nucleation promoting factors (NPFs) are essential for the branching reaction through interactions with the Arp2/3 complex prior to branch formation. The modes by which NPFs bind Arp2/3 complex and associated conformational changes have remained elusive. Here, we used electron microscopy to determine three‐dimensional structures at ∼2 nm resolution of Arp2/3 complex with three different bound NPFs: N‐WASp, Scar‐VCA and cortactin. All of these structures adopt a conformation with the two actin‐related proteins in an actin‐filament‐like dimer and the NPF bound to the pointed end. Distance constraints derived by fluorescence resonance energy transfer independently verified the NPF location. Furthermore, all bound NPFs partially occlude the actin‐filament binding site, suggesting that additional local structural rearrangements are required in the pathway of Arp2/3 complex activation to allow branch formation.

Integrins are bidirectional, allosteric transmembrane receptors that play a central role in hemostasis and arterial thrombosis. Using cryo-electron microscopy, multireference single-particle reconstruction methods, and statistics-based computational fitting approaches, we determined three-dimensional structures of human integrin αIIbβ3 embedded in a lipid bilayer (nanodiscs) while bound to domains of the cytosolic regulator talin and to extracellular ligands. We also determined the conformations of integrin in solution by itself to localize the membrane and the talin-binding site. To our knowledge, our data provide unprecedented three-dimensional information about the conformational states of intact, full-length integrin within membrane bilayers under near-physiological conditions and in the presence of cytosolic activators and extracellular ligands. We show that αIIbβ3 integrins exist in a conformational equilibrium clustered around four main states. These conformations range from a compact bent nodule to two partially extended intermediate conformers and finally to a fully upright state. In the presence of nanodiscs and the two ligands, the equilibrium is significantly shifted toward the upright conformation. In this conformation, the receptor extends ∼20 nm upward from the membrane. There are no observable contacts between the two subunits other than those in the headpiece near the ligand-binding pocket, and the α- and β-subunits are well separated with their cytoplasmic tails ∼8 nm apart. Our results indicate that extension of the ectodomain is possible without separating the legs or extending the hybrid domain, and that the ligand-binding pocket is not occluded by the membrane in any conformations of the equilibrium. Further, they suggest that integrin activation may be influenced by equilibrium shifts.

A new heterobifunctional photo-cross-linking reagent, N-(4-azido-2-nitrophenyl)-putrescine (ANP), was synthesized and covalently bound to Gln-41 of rabbit skeletal muscle actin by a bacterial transglutaminase-mediated reaction. Up to 1.0 mol of the reagent was incorporated per mole of G-actin; at least 90% of it was bound to Gln-41 while a minor fraction (about 8%) was attached to Gln-59. The labeled G-actin was polymerized, and the resulting F-actin was intermolecularly cross-linked by irradiation with UV light. The labeled and cross-linked peptides were isolated from either a complete or limited tryptic digest of cross-linked actin. In the limited digest the tryptic cleavage was restricted to arginine by succinylation of the lysyl residues. N-terminal sequencing and mass spectrometry indicated that the cross-linked peptides contained residues 40-50 (or 40-62 in the arginine limited digest) and residues 373-375, and that the actual cross-linking took place between Gln-41 and Cys-374. This latter finding was also supported by the inhibition of Cys-374 labeling with a fluorescent probe in the cross-linked actin. The dynamic length of ANP, between 11.1 and 12.5 A, constrains to that range the distance between the gamma-carboxyl group of Gln-41 in one monomer and the sulfur atom of Cys-374 in an adjacent monomer. This is consistent with the distances between these two residues on adjacent monomers of the same strand in the long-pitch helix in the structural models of F-actin [Holmes, K. C., Popp, D., Gebhard, W., and Kabsch, W. (1990) Nature 347, 44-49 and Lorenz, M., Popp, D., and Holmes, K. C. (1993) J. Mol. Biol. 234, 826-836]. The effect of cross-linking on the function of actin is described in the companion papers.