The Redefines the Apical Junction of Intestinal Epithelia

Overview

Journal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Specialty Science

Date 2024 Feb 20

PMID 38377188

Authors

Pierre Mangeol

Dominique Massey-Harroche

Michael Sebbagh

Fabrice Richard

Andre Le Bivic

Pierre-Francois Lenne

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Cell-cell apical junctions of epithelia consist of multiprotein complexes that organize as belts regulating cell-cell adhesion, permeability, and mechanical tension: the tight junction (), the (), and the . The prevailing dogma is that at the , E-cadherin and catenins are lined with F-actin bundles that support and transmit mechanical tension between cells. Using super-resolution microscopy on human intestinal biopsies and Caco-2 cells, we show that two distinct multiprotein belts are basal of the tight junctions as the intestinal epithelia mature. The most apical is populated with nectins/afadin and lined with F-actin; the second is populated with E-cad/catenins. We name this dual-belt architecture the . We find that the apical contraction apparatus and the dual-belt organization rely on afadin expression. Our study provides a revised description of epithelial cell-cell junctions and identifies a module regulating the mechanics of epithelia.

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