Membrane trafficking pathways function to sort and transport cargoes to various intracellular compartments and to the plasma membrane. This allows precise spatiotemporal control of processes such as signal transduction, which in turn is crucial for complex cell functions such as cell division, migration and polarity. Recent studies identified cell-matrix adhesions as regulators of exocytosis, endocytosis and the recycling machinery, thus establishing a new layer of crosstalk between cell adhesion and signaling. This review discusses these findings and considers their implications for signaling events downstream of integrins and growth factor receptors.
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