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δ‐catenin is a nervous system‐specific adherens junction protein which undergoes dynamic relocalization during development
Author(s) -
Ho Carole,
Zhou Jianhua,
Medina Miguel,
Goto Tomohide,
Jacobson Margaretha,
Bhide Pradeep G.,
Kosik Kenneth S.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9861(20000501)420:2<261::aid-cne8>3.0.co;2-q
Subject(s) - adherens junction , biology , catenin , neocortex , microbiology and biotechnology , neuroepithelial cell , in situ hybridization , neuroscience , cadherin , messenger rna , neural stem cell , wnt signaling pathway , genetics , cell , stem cell , signal transduction , gene
δ‐catenin is a member of the Armadillo repeat family and component of the adherens junction discovered in a two‐hybrid assay as a bona fide interactor with presenilin‐1 (Zhou et al., [1997], NeuroReport 8:2085–2090), a protein which carries mutations that cause familial Alzheimer's disease. The expression pattern of δ‐catenin was mapped between embryonic day 10 (E10) and adulthood by Northern blots, in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry in the mouse. In development, δ‐catenin is dynamically regulated with respect to its site of expression. It is first expressed within proliferating neuronal progenitor cells of the neuroepithelium, becomes down‐regulated during neuronal migration, and is later reexpressed in the dendritic compartment of postmitotic neurons. In the mouse, δ‐catenin mRNA is expressed by E10, increases and peaks at postnatal day (P)7, with lower levels in adulthood. In the developing neocortex, δ‐catenin mRNA is strongly expressed in the proliferative ventricular zone and the developing cortical plate, yet is conspicuously less prominent in the intermediate zone, which contains migrating cortical neurons, δ‐catenin protein forms a honeycomb pattern in the neuroepithelium by labeling the cell periphery in a typical adherens junction pattern. By E18, δ‐catenin expression shifts primarily to nascent apical dendrites, a pattern that continues through adulthood. The dynamic relocalization of δ‐catenin expression during development, taken together with previously published data which described a role for δ‐catenin in cell motility (Lu et al., [1999] J. Cell. Biol. 144:519–532), suggests the hypothesis that δ‐catenin regulation is closely linked to neuronal migration and may play a role in the establishment of mature dendritic relationships in the neuropil. J. Comp. Neurol. 420:261–276, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.