RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Nectins rather than E-cadherin anchor the actin belts at cell-cell junctions of epithelia
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 809343
DO 10.1101/809343
A1 Pierre Mangeol
A1 Dominique Massey-Harroche
A1 André Le Bivic
A1 Pierre-François Lenne
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/10/17/809343.abstract
AB Cell-cell junctions support the mechanical integrity of epithelia by enabling adhesion and tension transmission between neighboring cells. The prevailing mechanistic dogma is that E-cadherin supports and transmits mechanical tension between cells through actin belts in a region named the zonula adherens. Using super-resolution microscopy on human intestinal biopsies and Caco-2 cells, we show that the zonula adherens consists of E-cadherin and nectin belts that are separated by about 150 nm along the apico-basal direction, the nectin belt being in the immediate vicinity of the actin belt. The segregation of nectins and E-cadherin increases as the tissue matures. Our data redefine the structure of the zonula adherens and show that nectins, rather than E-cadherin, are the major connectors of actin belts in epithelia.