Focal adhesions (FAs) are clustered integrins and associated proteins that mediate cell adhesion and signaling. A green fluorescent protein-beta1 integrin chimera was used to label FAs in living cells. In stationary cells, FAs were highly motile, moving linearly for several plaque lengths toward the cell center. FA motility was independent of cell density and resulted from contraction of associated actin fibers. In migrating cells, FAs were stationary and only moved in the tail. FA motility in stationary cells suggests that cell movement may be regulated by a clutch-like mechanism by which the affinity of integrins to substrate may be altered in response to migratory cues.

The protein kinase NIMA is an indispensable pleiotropic regulator of mitotic progression in Aspergillus. Although several mammalian NIMA-like kinases (Neks) are known, none appears to have the broad importance for mitotic regulation attributed to NIMA. Nercc1 is a new NIMA-like kinase that regulates chromosome alignment and segregation in mitosis. Its NIMA-like catalytic domain is followed by a noncatalytic tail containing seven repeats homologous to those of the Ran GEF, RCC1, a Ser/Thr/Pro-rich segment, and a coiled-coil domain. Nercc1 binds to another NIMA-like kinase, Nek6, and also binds specifically to the Ran GTPase through both its catalytic and its RCC1-like domains, preferring RanGDP in vivo. Nercc1 exists as a homooligomer and can autoactivate in vitro by autophosphorylation. Nercc1 is a cytoplasmic protein that is activated during mitosis and is avidly phosphorylated by active p34 Cdc2 . Microinjection of anti-Nercc1 antibodies in prophase results in spindle abnormalities and/or chromosomal misalignment. In Ptk2 cells the outcome is prometaphase arrest or aberrant chromosome segregation and aneuploidy, whereas in CFPAC-1 cells prolonged arrest in prometaphase is the usual response. Nercc1 and its partner Nek6 represent a new signaling pathway that regulates mitotic progression.

We conclude that the delay in mitosis induced by DNA damage is not due to an ATM-mediated DNA damage checkpoint pathway. Rather, the damage leads to defects in kinetochore attachment and function that, in turn, maintain the intrinsic Mad-2-based spindle assembly checkpoint.

Leukocyte migration across endothelial cell borders (paracellular) and through endothelial cells (transcellular) appear to be distinct processes. During paracellular migration, membrane from a parajunctional reticulum of interconnected vesicles, the endothelial lateral border recycling compartment (LBRC), moves to surround the leukocyte in a kinesin-mediated, microtubule-dependent manner. We show that transcellular migration likewise requires targeted trafficking of LBRC membrane. We show that in addition to platelet/endothelial cell adhesion molecule (PECAM; CD31), CD99 and junctional adhesion molecule A (JAM-A), but apparently not vascular endothelial cell–specific cadherin (cadherin 5, CD144), are components of the LBRC. During transcellular migration, LBRC membrane invests the transmigrating leukocyte. Intracellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) on the apical endothelial surface is enriched around adherent leukocytes. Depolymerization of microtubules has no effect on ICAM-1 enrichment but blocks targeted trafficking of LBRC membrane and transcellular migration by >90%. Similar to their effects on paracellular transmigration, antibodies against PECAM or CD99, but not JAM-A, block transcellular migration. We conclude that similar molecular mechanisms promote both para- and transcellular migration.