A Drosophila homolog of cadherin associated with armadillo and essential for embryonic cell-cell adhesion.
We have identified a Drosophila homolog of vertebrate classic cadherins. A monoclonal antibody to Drosophila alpha-catenin (D alpha-catenin) copurifies a 150-kDa glycoprotein (gp150) along with the alpha-catenin. To further characterize this protein, we generated monoclonal antibodies to gp150 and isolated its cDNAs using the antibodies. Predicted sequences of the encoded product revealed that it is a transmembrane protein with similarity to vertebrate classic cadherins, and so we designated this molecule DE-cadherin. The extracellular domain has six cadherin-specific repeats, although the first repeat seems to be cleaved off upon maturation, and the cytoplasmic domain shows significant identity to that of vertebrate classic cadherins. DE-cadherin is distinguishable from its vertebrate counterparts by a large insertion with local sequence similarity to Fat, laminin A chain, Slit, and neurexin I at the proximal region of the extracellular domain. Despite such differences, DE-cadherin is functionally similar to vertebrate classic cadherins. For example, it is associated with alpha-catenin and beta-catenin (Armadillo), and protected from trypsin digestion only in the presence of Ca2+, as is the case for many of classic cadherins. Transfection of S2 cells with the DE-cadherin cDNA enhances their Ca(2+)-dependent cell aggregation. Antibodies to this molecule inhibited aggregation of not only the transfectants but also early embryonic cells. DE-cadherin is concentrated at the apical poles of epithelial cell-cell junctions. All these results suggest that DE-cadherin is a homolog of vertebrate classic cadherins and that the vertebrate and invertebrate share common mechanisms for regulation of cell-cell adhesion.
Oda
H
H
Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Science, Kyoto University, Japan.
Uemura
T
T
Harada
Y
Y
Iwai
Y
Y
Takeichi
M
M
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D051186:Armadillo Domain Proteins; D015820:Cadherins / Q000737:chemistry*; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002449:Cell Aggregation; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000196:embryology; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors
C495305:ARM protein, Drosophila; D051186:Armadillo Domain Proteins; D015820:Cadherins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D006023:Glycoproteins; D011506:Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors