Disease relevance of Zyx

• Zyxin is the founding member of a family of proteins that also includes the lipoma preferred partner (LPP) and thyroid receptor-interacting protein 6 (TRIP6) [1].

High impact information on Zyx

• Zyxin-null fibroblasts also show deficits in actin stress fiber remodeling and exhibit changes in the molecular composition of focal adhesions, most notably by severely reduced accumulation of Ena/VASP proteins [2].
• Zyxin-null fibroblasts display enhanced integrin-dependent adhesion and are more migratory than wild-type fibroblasts, displaying reduced dependence on extracellular matrix cues [2].
• We postulate that zyxin cooperates with Ena/VASP proteins and caldesmon to influence integrin-dependent cell motility and actin stress fiber remodeling [2].
• TRIP6 (thyroid receptor-interacting protein 6), also known as ZRP-1 (zyxin-related protein 1), is a member of the zyxin family that has been implicated in cell motility [3].
• Zyxin transcripts are detected throughout murine embryonic development, and the protein is widely expressed in adults [1].

Biological context of Zyx

• To define the cellular role of the focal adhesion protein zyxin, we characterized the phenotype of fibroblasts in which the zyxin gene was deleted by homologous recombination [2].
• Western blot analysis indicates that there is no detectable upregulation of either LPP or TRIP6 expression in tissues derived from zyxin-null mice [1].
• Zyxin is an evolutionarily conserved protein that is concentrated at sites of cell adhesion, where it associates with members of the Enabled (Ena)/vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) family of cytoskeletal regulators and is postulated to play a role in cytoskeletal dynamics and signaling [1].

Associations of Zyx with chemical compounds

• Ena-VASP proteins share an identical domain organization with an NH2-terminal Ena VASP homology (EVH1) domain, which mediates the binding of these proteins to FPPPP-motif containing partners such as zyxin and vinculin [4].

Other interactions of Zyx

• In the case of two nonessential genes (lamin A/C and zyxin) RNAi provides a recognizable phenotype [5].

References