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J. Cell Biol.,
Volume 142, Number 4, August 24, 1998 1121-1133


* Department of Biochemistry, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, United Kingdom; and We have used gene disruption to isolate two
talin (
Medical Research Council
Muscle and Cell Motility Unit, The Randall Institute, King's College London, 26-29 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5RL, United
Kingdom
/
) ES cell mutants that contain no intact talin.
The undifferentiated cells (a) were unable to spread on
gelatin or laminin and grew as rounded colonies, although they were able to spread on fibronectin (b)
showed reduced adhesion to laminin, but not fibronectin (c) expressed much reduced levels of
1 integrin, although levels of
5 and
V were wild-type (d) were less
polarized with increased membrane protrusions compared with a vinculin (
/
) ES cell mutant (e) were unable to assemble vinculin or paxillin-containing focal adhesions or actin stress fibers on fibronectin, whereas
vinculin (
/
) ES cells were able to assemble talin-containing focal adhesions. Both talin (
/
) ES cell
mutants formed embryoid bodies, but differentiation was restricted to two morphologically distinct cell
types. Interestingly, these differentiated talin (
/
) ES
cells were able to spread and form focal adhesion-like
structures containing vinculin and paxillin on fibronectin. Moreover, the levels of the
1 integrin subunit were
comparable to those in wild-type ES cells. We conclude that talin is essential for
1 integrin expression and focal adhesion assembly in undifferentiated ES cells, but
that a subset of differentiated cells are talin independent for both characteristics.
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