JCB logo
R&D Systems
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
Published 29 September 2003. doi:10.1083/jcb.200307089
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 Röper, K.
Right arrow Articles by Brown, N. H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Röper, K.
Right arrow Articles by Brown, N. H.
Related Collections
Right arrowRelated Article
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, 0021-9525/2003/9/1305 $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 162, Number 7, 1305-1315

Article

 Maintaining epithelial integrity : a function for gigantic spectraplakin isoforms in adherens junctions



Katja Röper and Nicholas H. Brown

Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Institute and Department of Anatomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1QR UK

Address correspondence to Nicholas H. Brown, Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Institute and Dept. of Anatomy, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Rd., Cambridge, CB2 1QR UK. Tel.: 44-1223-334128. Fax: 44-1223-334089. email: n.brown{at}welc.cam.ac.uk

The Short stop (Shot/Kakapo) spectraplakin is a giant cytoskeletal protein, which exists in multiple isoforms with characteristics of both spectrin and plakin superfamilies. Previously characterized Shot isoforms are similar to spectrin and dystrophin, with an actin-binding domain followed by spectrin repeats. We describe a new large exon within the shot locus, which encodes a series of plakin repeats similar to the COOH terminus of plakins such as plectin and BPAG1e. We find that the plakin repeats are inserted between the actin-binding domain and spectrin repeats, generating isoforms as large as 8,846 residues, which could span 400 nm. These novel isoforms localized to adherens junctions of embryonic and follicular epithelia. Loss of Shot within the follicle epithelium leads to double layering and accumulation of actin and ZO-1 in between, and a reduction of Armadillo and Discs lost within, mutant cells, indicative of a disruption of adherens junction integrity. Thus, we identify a new role for spectraplakins in mediating cell–cell adhesion.

Key Words: actin; cytoskeleton; cell junctions; adhesion; follicle epithelium

Abbreviations used in this paper: ABD, actin-binding domain; dlt, Discs lost; FasIII, Fasciclin III; IP, immunoprecipitation; PY, phosphotyrosine; WB, Western blot.


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?

Related Article

A long version of Short stop
Alan W. Dove
J. Cell Biol. 2003 162: 1179. [Full Text] [PDF]



This article has been cited by other articles:



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