Homophilic and Heterophilic Interactions of Type II Cadherins Identify Specificity Groups Underlying Cell-Adhesive Behavior.

ABSTRACT: Type II cadherins are cell-cell adhesion proteins critical for tissue patterning and neuronal targeting but whose molecular binding code remains poorly understood. Here, we delineate binding preferences for type II cadherin cell-adhesive regions, revealing extensive heterophilic interactions between specific pairs, in addition to homophilic interactions. Three distinct specificity groups emerge from our analysis with members that share highly similar heterophilic binding patterns and favor binding to one another. Structures of adhesive fragments from each specificity group confirm near-identical dimer topology conserved throughout the family, allowing interface residues whose conservation corresponds to specificity preferences to be identified. We show that targeted mutation of these resid

SUBMITTER: Brasch J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6029887 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature