title: The PDZ-LIM protein CLP36 is required for actin stress fiber formation and focal adhesion assembly in BeWo cells.
abstract: CLP36 belongs to the ALP subfamily of PDZ-LIM proteins and has a PDZ domain at its N-terminal and a LIM domain at its C-terminal. It has been shown that CLP36 is localized to stress fibers through interaction with alpha-actinin, but its function is still unclear. To investigate the role of CLP36 in stress fibers, we suppressed CLP36 expression in BeWo cells by RNAi and examined the phenotypic changes. CLP36-knockdown resulted in cell spreading and the loss of stress fibers and focal adhesions. These changes were reversed by addition of exogenous CLP36, but not by addition of mutant forms of CLP36 that lacked the PDZ or LIM domain. These findings indicate that CLP36 plays a critical role in stress fiber formation and the assembly of focal adhesions in BeWo cells. In addition, the PDZ and LIM domains are both essential for CLP36 to function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Higashiku, Hamamatsu, 431-3192 Shizuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tamura
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.forename: Taiichi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Katayama
authors.forename: Naohiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kanayama
authors.forename: Kohji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sato
mesh_terms: D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D022001:Focal Adhesions / Q000502:physiology*; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D060588:LIM Domain Proteins; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D060588:LIM Domain Proteins; C097168:Pdlim1 protein, rat