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Snail Destabilizes Cell Surface Crumbs3a
Author(s) -
Harder Jennifer L.,
Whiteman Eileen L.,
Pieczynski Jay N.,
Liu ChiaJen,
Margolis Ben
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
traffic
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.677
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1600-0854
pISSN - 1398-9219
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0854.2012.01376.x
Subject(s) - snail , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , cell , cell polarity , epithelial polarity , transmembrane protein , epithelial–mesenchymal transition , effector , downregulation and upregulation , gene , biochemistry , ecology , receptor
During epithelial to mesenchymal transition ( EMT ), cells modulate expression of proteins resulting in loss of apical‐basal polarity. Effectors of this EMT switch target the polarity protein Crumbs3a , a small transmembrane protein that is essential for generation of the apical membrane and tight junctions of mammalian epithelial cells. We previously showed that the Crumbs3 gene is a direct target of transcriptional regulation by Snail , a potent inducer of EMT . However, Snail has also been shown to have multiple non‐transcriptional roles, including regulation of cell adhesion, proliferation and survival. Using SNAP ‐tag labeling, we determined that cell surface Crumbs3a has a half‐life of approximately 3 h and that this cell surface half‐life is significantly reduced when EMT is induced by Snail . We further observe that Snail induces differential glycosylation of Crumbs3a , including sialylation, suggesting a mechanism by which Crumbs3a may be destabilized. These results indicate that Crumbs3a is a post‐translational target of Snail , in addition to being a transcriptional target. We conclude that Snail 's ability to post‐translationally modify and destabilize Crumbs3a augments the depolarizing process of EMT .