title: ULP-2 SUMO Protease Regulates E-Cadherin Recruitment to Adherens Junctions.
abstract: Adherens junctions (AJs) are membrane-anchored structures composed of E-cadherin and associated proteins, including catenins and actin. The unique plasticity of AJs mediates both the rigidity and flexibility of cell-cell contacts essential for embryonic morphogenesis and adult tissue remodeling. We identified the SUMO protease ULP-2 as a regulator of AJ assembly and show that dysregulated ULP-2 activity impairs epidermal morphogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans embryos. The conserved cytoplasmic tail of HMR-1/E-cadherin is sumoylated and is a target of ULP-2 desumoylation activity. Coupled sumoylation and desumoylation of HMR-1 are required for its recruitment to the subapical membrane during AJ assembly and the formation of the linkages between AJs and the apical actin cytoskeleton. Sumoylation weakens HMR-1 binding to HMP-2/β-catenin. Our study provides a mechanistic link between the dynamic nature of the SUMO machinery and AJ plasticity and highlight sumoylation as a molecular switch that modulates the binding of E-cadherin to the actin cytoskeleton.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: Assaf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsur
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bening Abu-Shach
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel. Electronic address: broday@post.tau.ac.il.
authors.forename: Limor
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Broday
mesh_terms: D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D022005:Adherens Junctions / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004817:Epidermis / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D009024:Morphogenesis; D025841:Small Ubiquitin-Related Modifier Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D058207:Sumoylation
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D025841:Small Ubiquitin-Related Modifier Proteins