Abstract
Publisher Summary The chapter describes the dynamic imaging of cell-substrate contacts and discusses the general methodology and principles used to study cell-substrate contact dynamics in live cells. The coupling of fluorophores—such as green fluorescent protein (GFP)—to focal adhesion proteins represents a powerful tool to study adhesive complex composition and dynamics in live cells. On binding to extracellular matrix (ECM), integrins cluster in the membrane and recruit cytoskeletal and signaling proteins to form focal complexes or focal adhesions. The fluorescence tagging of cell surface and intracellular proteins is a powerful method to visualize the dynamic temporal and spatial distribution of focal adhesion components in live cells. Investigations have highlighted the importance of these advances in providing basic mechanistic insight into the regulation of adhesive complex sites in vivo . Advances in microscopy methodologies and the use of fluorophore-tagged proteins have begun to provide insight into the extensive dynamics and the molecular diversity of adhesive complex sites in live cells.
Published Version
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