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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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ABSTRACT
Using an ultrasensitive force probe and basic statistical principles, we have developed a novel method to assay both the kinetic rates at which adhesive ligands dissociate from cell receptors and the rates at which the receptors separate from the cytoskeleton in the course of single molecule pulling experiments. Using results from probe tests of ICAM-1 bonds to L 2 integrin on leukocytes, I will show that cell signaling not only regulates lifetimes and strengths of the outer-ligand adhesive bond but also lifetimes and strengths of cohesive integrin anchoring to the cell cytostructure. Whether triggered from outside or inside the cell, the results indicate that the mechanical linkage between integrin tail domains and the cytoskeleton is a key effector of integrin activation in cell signaling (e.g. analogous to the “mechanical transmission” in an automobile).
