title: Early events in the assembly of E-cadherin adhesions.
abstract: E-cadherin is a calcium dependent cell adhesion molecule that is key to the organization of cells in the epithelial tissue. It is a multidomain, trans-membrane protein in which the extracellular domain forms the homotypic, adhesive interaction while the intracellular domain interacts with the actin cytoskeleton through the catenin family of adaptor proteins. A number of recent studies have provided novel insights into the mechanism of adhesion formation by this class of adhesion proteins. Here, we describe an updated view of the process of E-cadherin adhesion formation with an emphasis on the role of molecular mobility, clustering, and active cellular processes.
authors.affiliation: Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore. Electronic address: mbikhb@nus.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Kabir H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Biswas
authors.affiliation: Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore; Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore. Electronic address: biezbr@nus.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Ronen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zaidel-Bar
mesh_terms: D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051177:Catenins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000378:metabolism; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D051177:Catenins; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules
keywords: Cadherin; Catenin; Cell-cell adhesion; Clustering; Cytoskeleton; Diffusion; Filopodia