Structural and signalling molecules come together at tight junctions.
Tight junctions (TJs) have been suggested to act both as barriers and fences, but lack of information on the constituents of TJ strands has hampered the direct assessment of these functions. Over the past year, our understanding of the molecular architecture of TJ strands has increased markedly and we are ready to experimentally examine how TJs are involved in their dual functions.
Tsukita
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S
Department of Cell Biology Faculty of Medicine Kyoto University Yoshida-Konoe, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606, Japan. htsukita@mfour.med. kyoto-u.ac.jp.
Furuse
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M
Itoh
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D000818:Animals; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000502:physiology; D051528:Guanylate Kinases; D006801:Humans; D062726:Junctional Adhesion Molecules; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D009703:Nucleoside-Phosphate Kinase / Q000502:physiology; D062793:Occludin; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000502:physiology; D011487:Protein Conformation; D015398:Signal Transduction; D019108:Tight Junctions / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D062825:Zonula Occludens Proteins; D062826:Zonula Occludens-1 Protein; D062827:Zonula Occludens-2 Protein
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D062726:Junctional Adhesion Molecules; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C568985:OCLN protein, human; D062793:Occludin; D010750:Phosphoproteins; C569042:TJP1 protein, human; C569046:TJP2 protein, human; C111873:TJP3 protein, human; D062825:Zonula Occludens Proteins; D062826:Zonula Occludens-1 Protein; D062827:Zonula Occludens-2 Protein; D009703:Nucleoside-Phosphate Kinase; D051528:Guanylate Kinases