title: Developmental functions of the P120-catenin sub-family.
abstract: For more than a decade, cell, developmental and cancer investigators have brought about a wide interest in the biology of catenin proteins, an attraction being their varied functions within differing cellular compartments. While the diversity of catenin localizations and roles has been intriguing, it has also posed a challenge to the clear interpretation of loss- or gain-of-function developmental phenotypes. The most deeply studied member of the larger catenin family is beta-catenin, whose contributions span areas including cell adhesion and intracellular signaling/ transcriptional control. More recently, attention has been directed towards p120-catenin, which in conjunction with the p120-catenin sub-family members ARVCF- and delta-catenins, are the subjects of this review. Although the requirement for vertebrate versus invertebrate p120-catenin are at variance, vertebrate p120-catenin sub-family members may each inter-link cadherin, cytoskeletal and gene regulatory functions in embryogenesis and disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Program in Genes and Development, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Houston TX 77030, USA. pdmccrea@mdanderson.org
authors.forename: Pierre D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: McCrea
authors.forename: Jae-Il
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism; D051177:Catenins; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000378:metabolism*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000378:metabolism*; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000378:metabolism*; D047108:Embryonic Development; D006801:Humans; D038081:Organogenesis; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D000095002:Delta Catenin
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D051177:Catenins; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D000095002:Delta Catenin; C000722347:CTNND1 protein, human