alphaE-catenin, a cadherin-associated protein, is required for tight junction (TJ) organization, but its role is poorly understood. We transfected an alphaE-catenin-deficient colon carcinoma line with a series of alphaE-catenin mutant constructs. The results showed that the amino acid 326-509 domain of this catenin was required to organize TJs, and its COOH-terminal domain was not essential for this process. The 326-509 internal domain was found to bind vinculin. When an NH2-terminal alphaE-catenin fragment, which is by itself unable to organize the TJ, was fused with the vinculin tail, this chimeric molecule could induce TJ assembly in the alphaE-catenin-deficient cells. In vinculin-null F9 cells, their apical junctional organization was impaired, and this phenotype was rescued by reexpression of vinculin. These results indicate that the alphaE-catenin-vinculin interaction plays a role in the assembly of the apical junctional complex in epithelia.
Pubmed ID: 9700171 RIS Download
Publication data is provided by the National Library of Medicine ® and PubMed ®. Data is retrieved from PubMed ® on a weekly schedule. For terms and conditions see the National Library of Medicine Terms and Conditions.
Commercial instrument and chemical vendor. Developer and manufacturer of specialized technological products for life science research and clinical diagnostics markets.
View all literature mentionsAn Antibody supplier and subset of ThermoFisher Scientific which provides fluorescence reagents for various experiments and methods.
View all literature mentionsZEISS SIGMA VP field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) for imaging of non-conducting samples. It images of bacteria, cells, plants and organisms. Uses ATLAS software and can be combined with 3View technology from Gatan Inc.
View all literature mentions