title: Defining the roles of beta-catenin and plakoglobin in cell-cell adhesion: isolation of beta-catenin/plakoglobin-deficient F9 cells.
abstract: F9 teratocarcinoma cells in which beta-catenin and/or plakoglobin genes are knocked-out were generated and investigated in an effort to define the role of beta-catenin and plakoglobin in cell adhesion. Loss of beta-catenin expression only did not affect cadherin-mediated cell adhesion activity. Loss of both beta-catenin and plakoglobin expression, however, severely affected the strong cell adhesion activity of cadherin. In beta-catenin-deficient cells, the amount of plakoglobin associated with E-cadherin dramatically increased. In beta-catenin/plakoglobin-deficient cells, the level of E-cadherin and alpha-catenin markedly decreased. In these cells, E-cadherin formed large aggregates in cytoplasm and membrane localization of alpha-catenin was barely detected. These data confirmed that beta-catenin or plakoglobin is required for alpha-catenin to form complex with E-cadherin. It was also demonstrated that plakoglobin can compensate for the absence of beta-catenin. Moreover it was suggested that beta-catenin or plakoglobin is required not only for the cell adhesion activity but also for the stable expression and cell surface localization of E-cadherin.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cellular Interactions, Institute of Molecular Embryology and Genetics, Kumamoto University, Honjo 2-2-1, Kumamoto 860-0811, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fukunaga
authors.forename: Huijie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Komiya
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawasuji
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nagafuchi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D008957:Models, Genetic; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D051178:alpha Catenin / Q000378:metabolism; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D051185:gamma Catenin / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; C495293:Jup protein, mouse; D051178:alpha Catenin; D051176:beta Catenin; D051185:gamma Catenin