|
||
Catenin and Actin Filaments

* Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606, Japan; and ZO-1, a 220-kD peripheral membrane protein consisting of an amino-terminal half discs large
(dlg)-like domain and a carboxyl-terminal half domain,
is concentrated at the cadherin-based cell adhesion sites in non-epithelial cells. We introduced cDNAs encoding the full-length ZO-1, its amino-terminal half
(N-ZO-1), and carboxyl-terminal half (C-ZO-1) into
mouse L fibroblasts expressing exogenous E-cadherin (EL cells). The full-length ZO-1 as well as N-ZO-1
were concentrated at cadherin-based cell-cell adhesion
sites. In good agreement with these observations,
N-ZO-1 was specifically coimmunoprecipitated from
EL transfectants expressing N-ZO-1 (NZ-EL cells)
with the E-cadherin/
Department of Urology,
Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606, Japan
,
catenin complex. In contrast,
C-ZO-1 was localized along actin stress fibers. To examine the molecular basis of the behavior of these truncated ZO-1 molecules, N-ZO-1 and C-ZO-1 were produced in insect Sf9 cells by recombinant baculovirus
infection, and their direct binding ability to the cadherin/catenin complex and the actin-based cytoskeleton, respectively, were examined in vitro. Recombinant
N-ZO-1 bound directly to the glutathione-S-transferase fusion protein with
catenin, but not to that with
catenin or the cytoplasmic domain of E-cadherin. The
dissociation constant between N-ZO-1 and
catenin
was ~0.5 nM. On the other hand, recombinant C-ZO-1
was specifically cosedimented with actin filaments in
vitro with a dissociation constant of ~10 nM. Finally,
we compared the cadherin-based cell adhesion activity
of NZ-EL cells with that of parent EL cells. Cell aggregation assay revealed no significant differences among
these cells, but the cadherin-dependent intercellular motility, i.e., the cell movement in a confluent monolayer, was significantly suppressed in NZ-EL cells. We
conclude that in nonepithelial cells, ZO-1 works as a
cross-linker between cadherin/catenin complex and the
actin-based cytoskeleton through direct interaction
with
catenin and actin filaments at its amino- and carboxyl-terminal halves, respectively, and that ZO-1 is a
functional component in the cadherin-based cell adhesion system.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|