E-cadherin and APC compete for the interaction with beta-catenin and the cytoskeleton.
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Hulsken J, Birchmeier W, Behrens J
E-cadherin and APC compete for the interaction with beta-catenin and the cytoskeleton.
J Cell Biol. 1994 Dec;127(6 Pt 2):2061-9.
- PubMed ID
- 7806582 [ View in PubMed]
- Abstract
beta-Catenin is involved in the formation of adherens junctions of mammalian epithelia. It interacts with the cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin and also with the tumor suppressor gene product APC, and the Drosophila homologue of beta-catenin, armadillo, mediates morphogenetic signals. We demonstrate here that E-cadherin and APC directly compete for binding to the internal, armadillo-like repeats of beta-catenin; the NH2-terminal domain of beta-catenin mediates the interaction of the alternative E-cadherin and APC complexes to the cytoskeleton by binding to alpha-catenin. Plakoglobin (gamma-catenin), which is structurally related to beta-catenin, mediates identical interactions. We thus show that the APC tumor suppressor gene product forms strikingly similar associations as found in cell junctions and suggest that beta-catenin and plakoglobin are central regulators of cell adhesion, cytoskeletal interaction, and tumor suppression.