title: Depression in the level of cadherin and alpha-, beta-, gamma-catenins in transgenic Xenopus laevis highly expressing c-Src.
abstract: Aberrant morphogenesis of transgenic Xenopus laevis 5-day embryos carrying Rous sarcoma virus LTR in their DNA and expressing a high level of c-Src protein kinase was found to be accompanied with a profound depression in the level of cadherins and alpha-, beta-, and gamma-(plakoglobin) catenins in their tissues, as revealed by immunohistochemical analysis. Simultaneously, an increased level of phosphotyrosine staining was detected. However, an analogous increase in the level of phosphotyrosine immunostaining and a slightly higher level of Src were also detected in tissues of originally defective but later spontaneously repaired frog embryos that displayed essentially normal patterns of staining for cadherins and catenins. Our results provide evidence that the defective morphogenesis of frog embryos expressing a high level of c-Src is characterized by the loss of the cadherin-catenin complexes. It appears that to induce frog morphogenetic malformations, the c-Src overproduction and the loss of cadherins-catenins are simultaneously required. Phosphorylation is not likely to be the cause of cadherin and catenin disappearance from the tissues of strongly aberrant frog embryos.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dvoráková
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Habrová
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takác
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jonák
mesh_terms: D000015:Abnormalities, Multiple / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001358:Avian Sarcoma Viruses / Q000235:genetics; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051180:Desmoplakins; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences; D015534:Trans-Activators; D029867:Xenopus Proteins; D014982:Xenopus laevis; D051178:alpha Catenin; D051176:beta Catenin; D051185:gamma Catenin; D019061:src-Family Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C495266:CTNNB1 protein, Xenopus; D015820:Cadherins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D051180:Desmoplakins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D029867:Xenopus Proteins; D051178:alpha Catenin; D051176:beta Catenin; D051185:gamma Catenin; D019061:src-Family Kinases