title: Structural basis of cell-cell adhesion by cadherins.
abstract: Crystal structures of the amino-terminal domain of N-cadherin provide a picture at the atomic level of a specific adhesive contact between cells. A repeated set of dimer interfaces is common to the structure in three lattices. These interactions combine to form a linear zipper of molecules that mirrors the linear structure of the intracellular filaments with which cadherins associate. This cell-adhesion zipper may provide a mechanism to marshal individual molecular adhesive interactions into strong bonds between cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shapiro
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Fannon
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Kwong
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lehmann
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grübel
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Legrand
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Als-Nielsen
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Colman
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Hendrickson
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D015820:Cadherins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology*; D002118:Calcium / Q000502:physiology; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004926:Escherichia coli; D051379:Mice; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D002118:Calcium