title: Alpha-catenin: at the junction of intercellular adhesion and actin dynamics.
abstract: Alpha-catenin has often been considered to be a non-regulatory intercellular adhesion protein, in contrast to beta-catenin, which has well-documented dual roles in cell-cell adhesion and signal transduction. Recently, however, alpha-catenin has been found to be important not only in connecting the E-cadherin-beta-catenin complex to the actin cytoskeleton, but also in coordinating actin dynamics and inversely correlating cell adhesion with proliferation. As the number of alpha-catenin-interacting partners increases, intriguing new connections imply even more complex regulatory functions for this protein.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development, Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, Box 300, New York, New York 10021, USA.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kobielak
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fuchs
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011487:Protein Conformation; D051178:alpha Catenin
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; C495273:CTNNA1 protein, human; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D051178:alpha Catenin