The molecular architecture of cadherins in native epidermal desmosomes  

Oleh:

Al-Amoudi, Ashraf ; Diez, Daniel Castano ; Betts, Matthew J. ; Frangakis, Achilleas S.

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: NATURE (keterangan: ada di Proquest) vol. 450 no. 7171 (Dec. 2007), page 832.

Ketersediaan

Perpustakaan FK Nomor Panggil: N01.K.2 Non-tandon: 1 (dapat dipinjam: 0) Tandon: tidak ada

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Isi artikel

Desmosomes are cadherin-based adhesive intercellular junctions, which are present in tissues such as heart and skin. Despite considerable efforts, the molecular interfaces that mediate adhesion remain obscure. Here we apply cryo-electron tomography of vitreous sections from human epidermis to visualize the three-dimensional molecular architecture of desmosomal cadherins at close-to-native conditions. The three-dimensional reconstructions show a regular array of densities at approximately 70 A intervals along the midline, with a curved shape resembling the X-ray structure of C-cadherin, a representative 'classical' cadherin. Model-independent three-dimensional image processing of extracted sub-tomograms reveals the cadherin organization. After fitting the C-cadherin atomic structure into the averaged sub-tomograms, we see a periodic arrangement of a trans W-like and a cis V-like interaction corresponding to molecules from opposing membranes and the same cell membrane, respectively. The resulting model of cadherin organization explains existing two-dimensional data and yields insights into a possible mechanism of cadherin-based cell adhesion.

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