Genetic ablation of afadin causes mislocalization and deformation of Paneth cells in the mouse small intestinal epithelium.

ABSTRACT: Afadin is an actin filament-binding protein that acts cooperatively in cell adhesion with the cell adhesion molecule nectin, and in directional cell movement with the small G protein Rap1 in a nectin-independent manner. We studied the role of afadin in the organization of the small intestinal epithelium using afadin conditional gene knockout (cKO) mice. Afadin was localized at adherens junctions of all types of epithelial cells throughout the crypt-villus axis. Paneth cells were localized at the base of the crypt in control mice, but not confined there, and migrated into the villi in afadin-cKO mice. The distribution of other types of epithelial cells did not change significantly in the mutant mice. The Paneth cells remaining in the crypt exhibited abnormal shapes, were buried between adja

SUBMITTER: Tanaka-Okamoto M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4204899 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature