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Yes-associated protein (YAP) is a transcriptional regulator and mechanotransducer, relaying extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness into proliferative gene expression in 2D culture. Previous studies show that YAP activation is dependent on F-actin stress fiber mediated nuclear pore opening, however the protein mediators of YAP translocation remain unclear. Here, we show that YAP co-localizes with F-actin during activating conditions, such as sparse plating and culturing on stiff 2D substrates. To identify proteins mediating YAP translocation, we performed co-immunoprecipitation followed by mass spectrometry (co-IP/MS) for proteins that differentially associated with YAP under activating conditions. Interestingly, YAP preferentially associates with β 1 integrin under activating conditions, and β 4 integrin under inactivating conditions. In activating conditions, CRISPR/Cas9 knockout (KO) of β 1 integrin (ΔITGB1) resulted in decreased cell area, which correlated with decreased YAP nuclear localization. ΔITGB1 did not significantly affect the slope of the correlation between YAP nuclear localization with area, but did decrease overall nuclear YAP independently of cell spreading. In contrast, β 4 integrin KO (ΔITGB4) cells showed no change in cell area and similarly decreased nuclear YAP. These results reveal proteins that differentially associate with YAP during activation, which may aid in regulating YAP nuclear translocation.

Talin interacts with β-integrin tails and actin to control integrin activation, thus regulating focal adhesion dynamics and cell migration. There are two talin genes, Tln1 and Tln2, which encode talin1 and talin2, and it is generally believed that talin2 functions redundantly with talin1. However, we show here that talin2 has a higher affinity to β1-integrin tails than talin1. Mutation of talin2 S339 to leucine, which can cause Fifth Finger Camptodactyly, a human genetic disease, completely disrupted its binding to β-integrin tails. Also, substitution of talin1 C336 with Ser enhanced the affinity of talin1, whereas substitution of talin2 S339 with Cys diminished that of talin2. Further computational modeling analysis shows that talin2 S339 formed a hydrogen bond with E353, which is critical for inducing key hydrogen bonds between talin2 N326 and β1-integrin R760, and between talin2 K327 and β1-integrin D759. Mutation at any of these residues significantly diminished the interaction of talin2 with β1- integrin tails. These hydrogen bonds were not observed in talin1/β1-integrin, but did exist in talin1 C336S /β1-integrin complex. These results suggest that talin2 S339 forms a hydrogen bond with E353 to mediate its high affinity to β1-integrin., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interests.

An aberrant expression of integrin β1 has been implicated in breast cancer progression. Here, we compared the cell behaviors of wild-type (WT), β1 gene deleted (KO), and β1 gene restored (Res) MDA-MB-231 cells. Surprisingly, the expression of β1 exhibited opposite effects on cell proliferation. These effects were dependent on cell densities, and they showed an up-regulation of cell proliferation when cells were cultured under sparse conditions, and a down-regulation of cell growth under dense conditions. By comparison with WT cells, the phosphorylation levels of ERK in KO cells were consistently suppressed under sparse culture conditions, but consistently up-regulated under dense culture conditions. The phosphorylation levels of EGFR were increased in the KO cells. By contrast, the phosphorylation levels of AKT were decreased in the KO cells. The abilities for both colony and tumor formation were significantly suppressed in the KO cells, suggesting that β1 plays an important role in cell survival signaling for tumorigenesis. These aberrant phenotypes in the KO cells were rescued in the Res cells. Taken together, these results clearly showed the distinct roles of β1 in cancer cells: the inhibition of cell growth and the promotion of cell survival, which may shed light on cancer therapies.

Integrins are heterodimeric membrane proteins that regulate essential processes: cell migration, cell growth, extracellular matrix assembly and tumor metastasis. Each integrin α or β subunit contains a large extracellular domain, a single transmembrane (TM) domain, and a short cytoplasmic tail. The integrin TM domains are important for heterodimeric association and dissociation during the conversion from inactive to active states. Moreover, integrin clustering occurs by homo-oligomeric interactions between the TM helices. Here, the transmembrane and cytoplasmic (TMC) domains of integrin β1a were overexpressed, and the protein was purified in detergent micelles and/or reconstituted in liposomes. To investigate the TM domain conformational properties of integrin β1a, 26 consecutive single cysteine mutants were generated for site-directed spin labeling and continuous-wave electron paramagnetic resonance (CW-EPR) mobility and accessibility analyses. The mobility analysis identified two integrin β1a-TM regions with different motional properties in micelles and a non-continuous integrin β1a-TM helix with high immobility in liposomes. The accessibility analysis verified the TM range (Val737-Lys752) of the integrin β1a-TMC in micelles. Further mobility and accessibility comparisons of the integrin β1a-TMC domains in micelles or liposomes identified distinctively different oligomeric states of integrin β1a-TM, namely a monomer embedded in detergent micelles and leucine-zipper-like homo-oligomeric clusters in liposomes.