Adherens junctions remain dynamic |
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Authors: | Matthias M Falk |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biology, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA |
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Abstract: | One of the four principal categories of cell-cell junctions that hold together and shape distinct tissues and organs in vertebrates,
adherens junctions (AJs) form cell-cell contacts that connect transmembrane proteins with cytoskeletal actin filaments to
provide architectural strength, aid in morphogenesis, and help to maintain proper tissue homeostasis. The classical organization
of AJs, consisting of transmembrane cadherins and cytoplasmically attached β-catenins and α-catenins assembled together into
a multiprotein complex, was once thought obligatory to craft a robust and stable connection to actin-based cytoskeletal elements,
but this architecture has since been challenged and questioned to exist. In a stimulating paper published in a recent issue
of BMC Biology, Millán et al. provide convincing evidence that in confluent vascular endothelial cells a novel dynamic vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin-based
AJ type exists that interacts with and physically connects prominent bundles of tension-mediating actin filaments, stress
fibers, between neighboring cells. Stress fibers were known previously to link to integrin-based focal adhesion complexes
but not to cell-cell adhesion mediating AJs. These new findings, together with previous results support the concept that different
AJ subtypes, sharing the same transmembrane cadherin types, can assemble in various configurations to either increase barrier
function and promote physical cell-cell adhesion, or to lessen cell-cell adhesion and promote cell separation and migration. |
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