Abstract. Paxillin is a 68-kD focal adhesion phosphoprotein that interacts with several proteins including members of the src family of tyrosine kinases, the transforming protein v-crk, and the cytoskeletal proteins vinculin and the tyrosine kinase, focal adhesion kinase (FAK). This suggests a function for paxillin as a molecular adaptor, responsible for the recruitment of structural and signaling molecules to focal adhesions. The current study defines the vinculin-and FAK-interaction domains on paxillin and identifies the principal paxillin focal adhesion targeting motif. Using truncation and deletion mutagenesis, we have localized the vinculin-binding site on paxillin to a contiguous stretch of 21 amino acids spanning residues 143-164. In contrast, maximal binding of FAK to paxillin requires, in addition to the region of paxillin spanning amino acids 143-164, a carboxyl-terminal domain encompassing residues 265-313. These data demonstrate the presence of a single binding site for vinculin, and at least two binding sites for FAK that are separated by an intervening stretch of 100 amino acids. Vinculin-and FAKbinding activities within amino acids 143-164 were separable since mutation of amino acid 151 from a negatively charged glutamic acid to the uncharged polar residue glutamine (E151Q) reduced binding of vinculin to paxillin by >90%, with no reduction in the binding capacity for FAK. The requirement for focal adhesion targeting of the vinculin-and FAK-binding regions within paxitlin was determined by transfection into CHO.K1 fibroblasts. Significantly and surprisingly, paxillin constructs containing both deletion and point mutations that abrogate binding of FAK and/or vinculin were found to target effectively to focal adhesions. Additionally, expression of the amino-terminal 313 amino acids of paxillin containing intact vinculin-and FAK-binding domains failed to target to focal adhesions. This indicated other regions of paxillin were functioning as focal adhesion localization motifs. The carboxyl-terminal half of paxillin (amino acids 313-559) contains four contiguous double zinc finger LIM domains. Transfection analyses of sequential carboxylterminal truncations of the four individual LIM motifs and site-directed mutagenesis of LIM domains 1, 2, and 3, as well as deletion mutagenesis, revealed that the principal mechanism of targeting paxillin to focal adhesions is through LIM3. These data demonstrate that paxillin localizes to focal adhesions independent of interactions with vinculin and/or FAK, and represents the first definitive demonstration of LIM domains functioning as a primary determinant of protein subcellular localization to focal adhesions. C ELLULAR adhesion to the extracellular matrix is critically involved in many processes including normal and transformed cell growth, migration, and metastasis, lymphocyte extravasation, and force transmission during muscle contraction (for review see Burridge, 1986;Hynes, 1992;Clark and Brugge, 1995). A com-

Paxillin is a focal adhesion adaptor protein involved in the integration of growth factor- and adhesion-mediated signal transduction pathways. Repeats of a leucine-rich sequence named paxillin LD motifs (Brown M.C., M.S. Curtis, and C.E. Turner. 1998. Nature Struct. Biol. 5:677–678) have been implicated in paxillin binding to focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and vinculin. Here we demonstrate that the individual paxillin LD motifs function as discrete and selective protein binding interfaces. A novel scaffolding function is described for paxillin LD4 in the binding of a complex of proteins containing active p21 GTPase–activated kinase (PAK), Nck, and the guanine nucleotide exchange factor, PIX. The association of this complex with paxillin is mediated by a new 95-kD protein, p95PKL (paxillin-kinase linker), which binds directly to paxillin LD4 and PIX. This protein complex also binds to Hic-5, suggesting a conservation of LD function across the paxillin superfamily. Cloning of p95PKL revealed a multidomain protein containing an NH2-terminal ARF–GAP domain, three ankyrin-like repeats, a potential calcium-binding EF hand, calmodulin-binding IQ motifs, a myosin homology domain, and two paxillin-binding subdomains (PBS). Green fluorescent protein- (GFP-) tagged p95PKL localized to focal adhesions/complexes in CHO.K1 cells. Overexpression in neuroblastoma cells of a paxillin LD4 deletion mutant inhibited lamellipodia formation in response to insulin-like growth fac- tor-1. Microinjection of GST–LD4 into NIH3T3 cells significantly decreased cell migration into a wound. These data implicate paxillin as a mediator of p21 GTPase–regulated actin cytoskeletal reorganization through the recruitment to nascent focal adhesion structures of an active PAK/PIX complex potentially via interactions with p95PKL.