QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online September 19, 2007
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/jcs.013771

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Xu, W. Articles by Kimelman, D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Xu, W. Articles by Kimelman, D. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Mechanistic insights from structural studies of -catenin and its binding partners

¹ Departments of Biological Structure
² Departments of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: wxu{at}u.washington.edu)

Accepted 19 July 2007

-catenin is both a crucial regulator of cell adhesion and the central effector of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway. It functions as a protein organizer by interacting with numerous partners at the membrane, in the cytosol, and in the nucleus. Recent structural and biochemical studies have revealed how -catenin engages in critical protein-protein interactions by using its armadillo repeat region and its N- and C-terminal domains. The groove in the armadillo repeat region is a particularly interesting feature of -catenin, since it serves as a common binding site for several -catenin-binding partners, with steric hindrance limiting which partners can be bound at a specific time. These studies provide important insights into -catenin-mediated mechanisms of cell adhesion and Wnt signaling and suggest potential approaches for the design of therapeutic agents to treat diseases caused by misregulated -catenin expression.

Key words: -catenin structure, Wnt signaling, Cell adhesion, Protein-protein interaction

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				W. Lee, S. Swarup, J. Chen, T. Ishitani, and E. M. Verheyen Homeodomain-interacting protein kinases (Hipks) promote Wnt/Wg signaling through stabilization of {beta}-catenin/Arm and stimulation of target gene expression Development, January 15, 2009; 136(2): 241 - 251. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S.-H. Lee, I.-F. Peng, Y. G. Ng, M. Yanagisawa, S. X. Bamji, L. P. Elia, J. Balsamo, J. Lilien, P. Z. Anastasiadis, E. M. Ullian, et al. Synapses are regulated by the cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase Fer in a pathway mediated by p120catenin, Fer, SHP-2, and {beta}-catenin J. Cell Biol., December 2, 2008; 183(5): 893 - 908. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. J.F. Lazar, D. Tuvin, S. Hajibashi, S. Habeeb, S. Bolshakov, E. Mayordomo-Aranda, C. L. Warneke, D. Lopez-Terrada, R. E. Pollock, and D. Lev Specific Mutations in the {beta}-Catenin Gene (CTNNB1) Correlate with Local Recurrence in Sporadic Desmoid Tumors Am. J. Pathol., November 1, 2008; 173(5): 1518 - 1527. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]