title: Lateral clustering of cadherin-4 without homophilic interaction: possible involvement in the concentration process at cell-cell adhesion sites as well as in the cell adhesion activity.
abstract: It is thought that the concentration of classic cadherins at cell-cell adhesion sites is essential for generating strong cell-cell adhesion activity, but the mechanism is not well understood. To clarify the structural basis of the concentration process and the cell adhesion activity, we constructed various mutants of cadherin-4 and examined the adhesion properties of the transfectants. A deletion mutant lacking the entire cytoplasmic domain had weak, but significant Ca(2+)-dependent cell adhesion activity. Interestingly, the deletion mutant showed intrinsic cluster formation in the absence of cell-cell adhesion, possible lateral cluster formation. The cytoplasmic domain-deleted cadherin-4 containing the mutation of Trp-2 to Ala, which is known to inhibit the strand dimer formation required for the cell-cell adhesion, retained the possible activity of lateral cluster formation, supporting this notion. These results suggest that the extracellular domain has intrinsic activity of lateral cluster formation. Indeed, deletion of a cadherin repeat in the extracellular domain significantly reduced or abolished the lateral cluster formation as well as the concentration of cadherin-4 at cell-cell contact sites and cell adhesion activity. When transfectants of the cytoplasmic domain-deleted cadherin-4 made cell-cell contact and formed intimate cell-cell adhesion, the lateral clusters of cadherin-4 initially gathered at cell-cell contact sites, and a smooth linear concentration was gradually formed along the cell-cell adhesion interface. The results suggest that the lateral cluster formation is involved in the concentration process of cadherin-4 at cell-cell adhesion sites, hence in the strong cell adhesion activity of cadherin-4 as well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Microbiology, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, 90033, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murase
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hirano
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kitagawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Natori
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taketani
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Suzuki
mesh_terms: D019943:Amino Acid Substitution / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002449:Cell Aggregation; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D007365:Intercellular Junctions / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D007739:L Cells; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D011485:Protein Binding; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D020449:Repetitive Sequences, Amino Acid / Q000235:genetics; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; C083970:R-cadherin