Fig. 5
From: Integrins and their potential roles in mammalian pregnancy
The Saga of integrins: Integrin adhesion complexes. When the extracellular domains of integrins bind to ECM ligands they cluster within the plasma membrane and the cytoplasmic domains of the integrins become closely associated with the cytoskeleton resulting in the assembly of aggregates of 1) integrins at the surface of the cell, 2) cytoskeletal proteins within the cell, and 3) proteins within the ECM which are large enough to be observed by immunofluorescence microscopy and are known as integrin adhesion complexes (IACs). The proteins recruited to IACs, the integrin adhesome, perform many signaling functions both at the membrane and deeper within the cytoplasm to coordinate processes including cell adhesion, migration, proliferation, survival, differentiation, and metabolism. The integrin adhesome is highly complex and only cryptically alluded to in the figure. The “consensus adhesome” represents links between integrins and the actin cytoskeleton and the adaptor proteins that directly link integrins with actin are α-actinin, filamin, talin, and tensin. Despite the complexity of IACs, they are dynamic, and turnover can occur within a few minutes