Abstract. The NPXY sequence is highly conserved among integrin 13 subunit cytoplasmic tails, suggesting that it plays a fundamental role in regulating integrinmediated function. Evidence is provided that the NPXY structural motif within the 133 subunit, comprising residues 744-747, is essential for cell morphological and migratory responses mediated by integrin av133 in vitro and in vivo. Transfection of CS-1 melanoma cells with a cDNA encoding the wild-type integrin 133 subunit, results in de novo e~v133 expression and cell attachment, spreading, and migration on vitronectin. CS-1 cells expressing t~v133 with mutations that disrupt the NPXY sequence interact with soluble vitronectin or an RGD peptide, yet fail to attach, spread, or migrate on immobilized ligand. The biological consequences of these observations are underscored by the finding that CS-1 cells expressing wild-type o~v133 acquire the capacity to form spontaneous pulmonary metastases in the chick embryo when grown on the chorioallantoic membrane. However, migration-deficient CS-1 cells expressing av[33 with mutations in the NPXY sequence lose this ability to metastasize. These findings demonstrate that the NPXY motif within the integrin 133 cytoplasmic tail is essential for uv133-dependent postligand binding events involved in cell migration and the metastatic phenotype of melanoma cells.C ELL adhesion and migration play a central role in diverse biological and pathological processes including embryogenesis, angiogenesis, wound healing, and metastasis. Although the mechanisms that regulate cell adhesion and motility are poorly understood, it is clear that in many instances, these events are initiated by the specific recognition of extracellular matrix proteins by a family of cell surface adhesion receptors known as integrins (Ruoslahti, 1991;Hynes, 1992). Upon ligand recognition, integrins typically cluster at the site of ceU-substrate interface; this leads to polymerization of the actin cytoskeleton (Burridge et al., 1988). In this context, integrins form a physical linkage between the extracellular matrix and the actin cytoskeleton. Ultimately, these integrin-initiated adhesive interactions can lead to gross changes in cellular morphology orchestrated by the actin cytoskeleton that facilitate cell migration.Structurally, integrins are heterodimers composed of noncovalently associated a and [3 subunits (Hynes, 1992 554-8926. which in most cases is shorter than 50 amino acids. Although several studies have identified functionally important regions within the integrin ectodomain Cheresh, 1988, 1990;D'Souza et al., 1988D'Souza et al., , 1990D'Souza et al., , 1994Loftus et al., 1990;Takada et al., 1992;Lee et al., 1995) and cytoplasmic domain (Hibbs et al., 1991;O'Toole et al., 1991O'Toole et al., , 1995Bauer et al., 1993;Filardo and Cheresh, 1994) that can regulate ligand-binding function, relatively little is known regarding structural motifs within the integrin that regulate morphological changes in cell shape which accompany cellular adhesion...