JCB logo
Cytokines in immune regulation
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
Published online 27 January 2003. doi:10.1083/jcb.200211083
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow PDF (Full Text)
Right arrow PPT slides of all figures
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JCB
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Myster, S. H.
Right arrow Articles by Peifer, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Myster, S. H.
Right arrow Articles by Peifer, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/2003/2/433 $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 160, Number 3, 433-449

Article

 Drosophila p120catenin plays a supporting role in cell adhesion but is not an essential adherens junction component

Steven H. Myster1, Robert Cavallo2, Charles T. Anderson3, Donald T. Fox3 and Mark Peifer1,2,3

1 Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599
2 Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599
3 Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599

Address correspondence to Mark Peifer, Dept. of Biology, CB#3280, Coker Hall, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3280. Tel.: (919) 962-2271. Fax: (919) 962-1625. E-mail: peifer{at}unc.edu

Cadherin–catenin complexes, localized to adherens junctions, are essential for cell–cell adhesion. One means of regulating adhesion is through the juxtamembrane domain of the cadherin cytoplasmic tail. This region is the binding site for p120, leading to the hypothesis that p120 is a key regulator of cell adhesion. p120 has also been suggested to regulate the GTPase Rho and to regulate transcription via its binding partner Kaiso. To test these hypothesized functions, we turned to Drosophila, which has only a single p120 family member. It localizes to adherens junctions and binds the juxtamembrane region of DE-cadherin (DE-cad). We generated null alleles of p120 and found that mutants are viable and fertile and have no substantial changes in junction structure or function. However, p120 mutations strongly enhance mutations in the genes encoding DE-cadherin or Armadillo, the ß-catenin homologue. Finally, we examined the localization of p120 during embryogenesis. p120 localizes to adherens junctions, but its localization there is less universal than that of core adherens junction proteins. Together, these data suggest that p120 is an important positive modulator of adhesion but that it is not an essential core component of adherens junctions.

Key Words: cadherin; p120; catenin; Rho; cell–cell adhesion


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:



  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents