Vinculin is part of the cadherin-catenin junctional complex: complex formation between alpha-catenin and vinculin.

ABSTRACT: In epithelial cells, alpha-, beta-, and gamma-catenin are involved in linking the peripheral microfilament belt to the transmembrane protein E-cadherin. alpha-Catenin exhibits sequence homologies over three regions to vinculin, another adherens junction protein. While vinculin is found in cell-matrix and cell-cell contacts, alpha-catenin is restricted to the latter. To elucidate, whether vinculin is part of the cell-cell junctional complex, we investigated complex formation and intracellular targeting of vinculin and alpha-catenin. We show that alpha-catenin colocalizes at cell-cell contacts with endogenous vinculin and also with the transfected vinculin head domain forming immunoprecipitable complexes. In vitro, the vinculin NH2-terminal head binds to alpha-catenin, as seen by immunopreci

SUBMITTER: Weiss EE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2132754 | biostudies-literature | 1998 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature