Cell
Volume 135, Issue 5, 28 November 2008, Pages 948-959
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Article
Anchorage of Microtubule Minus Ends to Adherens Junctions Regulates Epithelial Cell-Cell Contacts

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Summary

Epithelial cells contain noncentrosomal microtubules (MTs), whose minus ends are oriented apically. In contrast with the well-known interactions of the minus ends with the centrosome, little is known about the termination site of the noncentrosomal minus ends. Here we show that a population of MT minus ends is anchored at the zonula adherens (ZA), the apical-most part of the cadherin-based adherens junction, via a protein that we have termed Nezha. We initially identified PLEKHA7 as a ZA component and subsequently detected Nezha as a partner for PLEKHA7. Nezha bound MTs at their minus ends and tethered them to the ZA. Furthermore, we found that a minus end-directed motor, KIFC3, was concentrated at the ZA in a PLEKHA7/Nezha/MT-dependent manner; and depletion of any of these proteins resulted in disorganization of the ZA. We propose that the PLEKHA7/Nezha/MT complex regulates the ZA integrity by recruiting KIFC3 to this junctional site.

CELLBIO
DEVBIO
SIGNALING

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Present address: ERATO, JST, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan