Intercellular junctions and cellular polarity: the PAR-aPKC complex, a conserved core cassette playing fundamental roles in cell polarity.
Two PDZ-domain-containing adapter-like proteins, PAR-3 and PAR-6, and a protein kinase, atypical protein kinase C (PKC), cooperate together to establish cell polarity in a variety of biological contexts. These include asymmetric cell division in early Caenorhabditis elegans embryo and Drosophila neuroblasts, as well as the establishment and maintenance of apical-basal polarity in Drosophila and mammalian epithelial cells. Recent studies on the role of this PAR-aPKC complex in epithelial cell polarization provide new insights into the molecular basis of epithelial junctional formation and cell polarity.
Ohno
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Department of Molecular Biology, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, 3-9, Fuku-ura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama 236-0004, Japan. ohnos@med.yokohama-cu.ac.jp
D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology; D004848:Epithelium / Q000196:embryology; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D007365:Intercellular Junctions / Q000502:physiology*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008954:Models, Biological; D011493:Protein Kinase C / Q000502:physiology*; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D011506:Proteins / Q000502:physiology*
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D011506:Proteins; C512642:par-6 protein, C elegans; C097238:PAR-3 protein, C elegans; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; C115015:PKC-3 protein; D011493:Protein Kinase C