The cytoplasmic domains (tails) of heterodimeric integrin adhesion receptors mediate integrins' biological functions by binding to cytoplasmic proteins. Most integrin  tails contain one or two NPXY͞F motifs that can form  turns. These motifs are part of a canonical recognition sequence for phosphotyrosine-binding (PTB) domains, protein modules that are present in a wide variety of signaling and cytoskeletal proteins. Indeed, talin and ICAP1-␣ bind to integrin  tails by means of a PTB domain-NPXY ligand interaction. To assess the generality of this interaction we examined the binding of a series of recombinant PTB domains to a panel of short integrin  tails. In addition to the known integrin-binding proteins, we found that Numb (a negative regulator of Notch signaling) and Dok-1 (a signaling adaptor involved in cell migration) and their isolated PTB domain bound to integrin tails. Furthermore, Dok-1 physically associated with integrin ␣IIb3. Mutations of the integrin  tails confirmed that these interactions are canonical PTB domain-ligand interactions. First, the interactions were blocked by mutation of an NPXY motif in the integrin tail. Second, integrin class-specific interactions were observed with the PTB domains of Dab, EPS8, and tensin. We used this specificity, and a molecular model of an integrin  tail-PTB domain interaction to predict critical interacting residues. The importance of these residues was confirmed by generation of gain-and loss-of-function mutations in 7 and 3 tails. These data establish that short integrin  tails interact with a large number of PTB domain-containing proteins through a structurally conserved mechanism. I ntegrin adhesion receptors are heterodimers of ␣ and  subunits, which combine to form a large extracellular domain, two transmembrane domains (one for each subunit), and a cytoplasmic domain typically composed of the short ␣ and  C-terminal cytoplasmic tails (1). Bidirectional signal transduction through integrin adhesion receptors is essential for a wide variety of functions, including cell adhesion and migration, and assembly and remodeling of the extracellular matrix. Binding of intracellular proteins to integrin cytoplasmic tails is an important step in the transduction of signals to and from integrin-adhesion receptors (2). Integrin  cytoplasmic tails, with the exception of those of 4 and 8, are short (Ͻ60 residues) and contain one or two NPXY or NPXY-like motifs (Fig. 1A), the first of which has the propensity to form a  turn (3). Such  turn-forming sequences frequently serve to bind to phosphotyrosine-binding (PTB) domains (4). NXXY motif-dependent binding of the Shc PTB domain to the large (Ͼ1,000 residues) 4 cytoplasmic tail has been observed (5) and molecular modeling studies suggested that the interaction of integrin cytoplasmic domain-associated protein (ICAP)1-␣ with 1A (6), and of talin with 3 (7), are mediated by PTB domain-like interactions. The solved crystal structure of a complex of a talin fragment with part of the 3 tail verified th...