Talin is the major scaffold protein linking integrin receptors with the actin cytoskeleton. In Drosophila, extended talin generates a stable link between the sarcomeric cytoskeleton and the tendon matrix at muscle attachment sites. Here we identify phosphorylation sites on Drosophila talin by mass spectrometry. Talin is phosphorylated in late embryogenesis when muscles differentiate, especially on T152 in the exposed loop of the F1 domain of the talin head. Localization of talin-T150/T152A is reduced at muscle attachment sites and can only partially rescue muscle attachment compared to wild type talin. We also identify Slik as the kinase phosphorylating talin at T152. Slik localizes to muscle attachment sites, and the absence of Slik reduces the localization of talin at muscle attachment sites causing phenotypes similar to talin-T150/T152A. Thus, our results demonstrate that talin phosphorylation by Slik plays an important role in fine-tuning talin recruitment to integrin adhesion sites and maintaining muscle attachment.
Call for papers: Uncovering Developmental Diversity
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue: Uncovering Developmental Diversity. This issue will be coordinated by our academic Editor Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA) alongside two Guest Editors: Liam Dolan (Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austria) and Karen Sears (University of California Los Angeles, USA).
Choose Development in 2024
In this Editorial, Development Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown explain how you support your community by publishing in Development and how the journal champions serious science, community connections and progressive publishing.
Journal Meeting: From Stem Cells to Human Development
Register now for the 2024 Development Journal Meeting From Stem Cells to Human Development. Early-bird registration deadline: 3 May. Abstract submission deadline: 21 June.
Pluripotency of a founding field: rebranding developmental biology
This collaborative Perspective, the result of a workshop held in 2023, proposes a set of community actions to increase the visibility of the developmental biology field. The authors make recommendations for new funding streams, frameworks for collaborations and mechanisms by which members of the community can promote themselves and their research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.
Social media
