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An instructive role for C. elegans E-cadherin in translating cell contact cues into cortical polarity.

Nature cell biology | 2015

Cell contacts provide spatial cues that polarize early embryos and epithelial cells. The homophilic adhesion protein E-cadherin is required for contact-induced polarity in many cells. However, it is debated whether E-cadherin functions instructively as a spatial cue, or permissively by ensuring adequate adhesion so that cells can sense other contact signals. In Caenorhabditis elegans, contacts polarize early embryonic cells by recruiting the RhoGAP PAC-1 to the adjacent cortex, inducing PAR protein asymmetry. Here we show that the E-cadherin HMR-1, which is dispensable for adhesion, functions together with the α-catenin HMP-1, the p120 catenin JAC-1, and the previously uncharacterized linker PICC-1 (human CCDC85A-C) to bind PAC-1 and recruit it to contacts. Mislocalizing the HMR-1 intracellular domain to contact-free surfaces draws PAC-1 to these sites and depolarizes cells, demonstrating an instructive role for HMR-1 in polarization. Our findings identify an E-cadherin-mediated pathway that translates cell contacts into cortical polarity by directly recruiting a symmetry-breaking factor to the adjacent cortex.

Pubmed ID: 25938815 RIS Download

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Associated grants

  • Agency: NIGMS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 GM078341
  • Agency: NICHD NIH HHS, United States
    Id: T32HD007520
  • Agency: NIGMS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 GM098492
  • Agency: NIGMS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01GM098492
  • Agency: NIGMS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01GM078341

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