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Nectin and junctional adhesion molecule are critical cell adhesion molecules for the apico‐basal alignment of adherens and tight junctions in epithelial cells
Author(s) -
Yamada Tomohiro,
Kuramitsu Kaori,
Rikitsu Etsuko,
Kurita Souichi,
Ikeda Wataru,
Takai Yoshimi
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
genes to cells
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1365-2443
pISSN - 1356-9597
DOI - 10.1111/gtc.12091
Subject(s) - adherens junction , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , nectin , cadherin , cell adhesion molecule , tight junction , adhesion , cell junction , cell adhesion , basal (medicine) , septate junctions , cell , gap junction , intracellular , genetics , chemistry , organic chemistry , endocrinology , insulin
Tight junctions ( TJ s) and adherens junctions ( AJ s) form an apical junctional complex at the apical side of the lateral membranes of epithelial cells, in which TJ s are aligned at the apical side of AJ s. Many cell adhesion molecules ( CAM s) and cell polarity molecules ( CPM s) cooperatively regulate the formation of the apical junctional complex, but the mechanism for the alignment of TJ s at the apical side of AJ s is not fully understood. We developed a cellular system with which epithelial‐like TJ s and AJ s were reconstituted in fibroblasts and analyzed the cooperative roles of CAM s and CPM s. We exogenously expressed various combinations of CAM s and CPM s in fibroblasts that express negligible amounts of these molecules endogenously. In these cells, the nectin‐based cell–cell adhesion was formed at the apical side of the junctional adhesion molecule ( JAM )‐based cell–cell adhesion, and cadherin and claudin were recruited to the nectin‐3‐ and JAM ‐based cell–cell adhesion sites to form AJ ‐like and TJ ‐like domains, respectively. This inversed alignment of the AJ ‐like and TJ ‐like domains was reversed by complementary expression of CPM s P ar‐3, atypical protein kinase C , P ar‐6, C rb3, P als1 and P atj. We describe the cooperative roles of these CAM s and CPM s in the apico‐basal alignment of TJ s and AJ s in epithelial cells.