Focal adhesions are known to be highly tyrosine phosphorylated structures (Fig 1, top). Ronen Zaidel-Bar demonstrated that the phosphorylation of at least two components of focal adhesions (paxillin and Cas) is highly sensitive to external forces (shear stress), and might be involved in a local regulation of cell polarization, driven by the small G-protein Rac1. He also demonstrated that tyrosine phosphorylation of specific plaque components has a profound effect on focal adhesion assembly and disassembly, and the consequent interconversion of the different forms of integrin adhesions
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