|
||
J. Cell Biol.,
Volume 144, Number 2, January 25, 1999 361-371

* Institut für Medizinische Virologie and The AF-6/afadin protein, which contains a
single PDZ domain, forms a peripheral component of
cell membranes at specialized sites of cell-cell junctions. To identify potential receptor-binding targets of
AF-6 we screened the PDZ domain of AF-6 against a
range of COOH-terminal peptides selected from receptors having potential PDZ domain-binding termini. The
PDZ domain of AF-6 interacts with a subset of members of the Eph subfamily of RTKs via its COOH terminus both in vitro and in vivo. Cotransfection of a
green fluorescent protein-tagged AF-6 fusion protein
with full-length Eph receptors into heterologous cells
induces a clustering of the Eph receptors and AF-6 at
sites of cell-cell contact. Immunohistochemical analysis
in the adult rat brain reveals coclustering of AF-6 with Eph receptors at postsynaptic membrane sites of excitatory synapses in the hippocampus. Furthermore,
AF-6 is a substrate for a subgroup of Eph receptors and
phosphorylation of AF-6 is dependent on a functional
kinase domain of the receptor. The physical interaction of endogenous AF-6 with Eph receptors is demonstrated by coimmunoprecipitation from whole rat brain
lysates. AF-6 is a candidate for mediating the clustering
of Eph receptors at postsynaptic specializations in the
adult rat brain.
Elektronenmikroskopisches Zentrallabor, Universität Zürich; § Institut für
Neuroinformatik, Universität Zürich/Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, CH-8028 Zürich, Switzerland; and ¶ Weizmann
Institute for Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|