Talin is a cytoskeletal protein that plays a critical role in the formation of cell adhesions and regulation of integrin signalling. It activates integrins, couples them to F-actin, and recruits vinculin to focal adhesions [1-5]. It is a long protein comprising an N-terminal globular head and a long C-terminal rod which has 13 helical bundles (R1-R13) organized into a compact cluster of four-helix bundles (R2-R4) within a linear chain of five-helix bundles. Nine of the helical bundles contain vinculin-binding sites (VBS), one of them is R4, represented in this entry [2].

1: Structural definition of the F-actin-binding THATCH domain from HIP1R. Brett TJ, Legendre-Guillemin V, McPherson PS, Fremont DH; Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2006;13:121-130. PMID:16415883

2: RIAM and vinculin binding to talin are mutually exclusive and regulate adhesion assembly and turnover. Goult BT, Zacharchenko T, Bate N, Tsang R, Hey F, Gingras AR, Elliott PR, Roberts GCK, Ballestrem C, Critchley DR, Barsukov IL; J Biol Chem. 2013;288:8238-8249. PMID:23389036

3: Central region of talin has a unique fold that binds vinculin and actin. Gingras AR, Bate N, Goult BT, Patel B, Kopp PM, Emsley J, Barsukov IL, Roberts GC, Critchley DR; J Biol Chem. 2010;285:29577-29587. PMID:20610383

4: Structural determinants of integrin binding to the talin rod. Gingras AR, Ziegler WH, Bobkov AA, Joyce MG, Fasci D, Himmel M, Rothemund S, Ritter A, Grossmann JG, Patel B, Bate N, Goult BT, Emsley J, Barsukov IL, Roberts GC, Liddington RC, Ginsberg MH, Critchley DR; J Biol Chem. 2009;284:8866-8876. PMID:19176533

5: Structural and mechanistic insights into the recruitment of talin by RIAM in integrin signaling. Chang YC, Zhang H, Franco-Barraza J, Brennan ML, Patel T, Cukierman E, Wu J; Structure. 2014;22:1810-1820. PMID:25465129