Amino-terminal domain of classic cadherins determines the specificity of the adhesive interactions.

Classic cadherins are transmembrane receptors involved in cell type-specific calcium-dependent intercellular adhesion. The specificity of adhesion is mediated by homophilic interactions between cadherins extending from opposing cell surfaces. In addition, classic cadherins can self-associate forming lateral dimers. Whereas it is widely excepted that lateral dimerization of cadherins is critical for adhesion, details of this process are not known. Yet, no evidence for physical association between different classic cadherins in cells expressing complex cadherin patterns has been reported. To study lateral and adhesive intercadherin interactions, we examined interactions between two classic cadherins, E- and P-cadherins, in epithelial A-431 cells co-producing both proteins. We showed that these cells exhibited heterocomplexes consisting of laterally assembled E- and P-cadherins. These complexes were formed by a mechanism involving Trp(156) of E-cadherin. Removal of calcium ions from the culture medium triggered a novel Trp(156)-independent type of lateral E-cadherin-P-cadherin association. Notably, an antiparallel (adhesive) mode of interaction between these cadherins was negligible. The specificity of adhesive interaction was localized to the amino-terminal (EC1) domain of both cadherins. Thus, EC1 domain of classic cadherins exposes two determinants responsible for nonspecific lateral and cadherin type-specific adhesive dimerization.

Removal of calcium ions triggers a novel type of intercadherin interaction.

Depletion of Ca(2+) ions from epithelial cell cultures has been shown to result in the rapid destruction of intercellular junctions. To understand the mechanism of this effect we have examined how removal of calcium ions from the culture medium of A-431 epithelial cells affects complexes incorporating the cell-cell adhesive receptors, E-cadherin, desmoglein or desmocollin. Sedimentation and biochemical analysis demonstrated that calcium removal triggers a rapid formation of a novel type of complex formed via direct lateral E-cadherin-desmoglein, E-cadherin-desmocollin and desmoglein-desmocollin dimerization of the extracellular cadherin regions. Replacement of Trp(156) and Val(157) of E-cadherin, that has been shown to abolish lateral and adhesive E-cadherin homodimerization in standard cultures, did not influence the formation of these 'calcium-sensitive' complexes. Furthermore, experiments with this mutant revealed that EGTA induced lateral Trp(156)/Val(157)-independent homodimerization of E-cadherin. Deletion mutagenesis of E-cadherin showed that these complexes are mediated by at least two extracellular cadherin domains, EC3 and EC4. Notably, protein kinase inhibitor H-7 which confers EGTA-independence of the adhesive E-cadherin complexes does not block this association. We propose that this novel type of intercadherin interaction is involved in the assembly of adherens junctions and their disassembly in low-calcium medium.

Molecular organization of the desmoglein-plakoglobin complex.

Different epithelial intercellular junctions contain distinct complexes incorporating plakoglobin. In adherens junctions, plakoglobin interacts with two molecules, the transmembrane adhesion protein of the cadherin family (e.g. E-cadherin) and alpha-catenin. The latter is thought to anchor the cadherin-plakoglobin complex to the cortical actin cytoskeleton. In desmosomes, plakoglobin forms a complex with desmosomal cadherins, either desmoglein (Dsg) or desmocollin (Dsc), but not with alpha-catenin. To further understand the structure and assembly of the plakoglobin-cadherin complexes we analyzed amino acid residues involved in plakoglobin-Dsg interactions using alanine scanning mutagenesis. Previously, we have shown that plakoglobin interacts with a 72 amino acid-long cytoplasmic domain (C-domain) that is conserved among desmosomal and classic cadherins. In this paper, we show that a row of the large hydrophobic residues located at the C-terminal portion of the Dsg C-domain is indispensable for interaction with plakoglobin. To study a reciprocal site we expressed plakoglobin (MPg) or its mutants tagged by 6 myc epitope in epithelial A-431 cells. Using sucrose gradient centrifugation and subsequent co-immunoprecipitation, MPg was found to be efficiently incorporated into the same type of complexes as endogenous plakoglobin. A major pool of Dsg-plakoglobin complexes sedimented at 8S and exhibited a 1:1 stoichiometry. Using alanine scanning mutagenesis and the co-immunoprecipitation assay we identified nine hydrophobic amino acids within the arm repeats 1-3 of plakoglobin, that are required for binding to Dsg and Dsc. Eight of these amino acids also participate in the interaction with alpha-catenin. No mutations were found to reduce the affinity of plakoglobin binding to E-cadherin. These data provide direct evidence that the same hydrophobic plakoglobin surface is essential for mutually exclusive interaction with distinct proteins such as alpha-catenin and desmosomal cadherins.

Cadherin binding sites of plakoglobin: localization, specificity and role in targeting to adhering junctions.

Plakoglobin directly interacts with cadherins and plays an essential role in the assembly of adherens junctions and desmosomes. Recently we have reported that multiple cadherin binding sites are localized along the arm repeat region of plakoglobin. To demonstrate functionally and specificity of these sites in vivo we constructed a set of chimeric proteins containing a plakoglobin sequence fused with the transmembrane vesicular protein synaptophysin. Plakoglobin fused upstream or downstream from synaptophysin (PgSy and SyPg, chimeras, respectively) is exposed on the cytoplasmic surface of synaptic-like vesicles and is able to associate with E-cadherin, and with two desmosomal cadherins, desmoglein and desmocollin. Moreover, plakoglobin targets these vesicles to cell-cell junctions. Insertion of synaptophysin within plakoglobin (PSyG chimeras) can interfere with cadherin binding of the resulting chimeric proteins, dependent on the position of the insertion. Insertion of synaptophysin in the first three arm repeats selectively inactivates plakoglobin binding to desmoglein and desmocollin. An insertion of synaptophysin within the next two repeats inactivates E-cadherin and desmocollin binding but not desmoglein binding. This localization of the desmoglein and E-cadherin binding sites was further confirmed by replacement of plakoglobin arm repeats with the corresponding sequence derived from the plakoglobin homologue, beta-catenin, and by deletion mutagenesis. Insertion of synaptophysin in most sites within arm repeats 6-13 does not change plakoglobin binding to cadherins. It does, however, strongly inhibit association of the resulting vesicles either with desmosomes and adherens junctions or with desmosomes only. Using in vitro binding assays we demonstrate that arm repeats 6-13 contain two cryptic cadherin binding sites that are masked in the intact protein. These observations suggest that the arm repeat region of plakoglobin is comprises two functionally distinct regions: the 1/5 region containing desmoglein and E-cadherin specific binding sites and the 6/13 region implicated in targeting of plakoglobin/cadherin complexes into junctional structures.

The binding of plakoglobin to desmosomal cadherins: patterns of binding sites and topogenic potential.

Plakoglobin is the only protein that occurs in the cytoplasmic plaques of all known adhering junctions and has been shown to be crucially involved in the formation and maintenance of desmosomes anchoring intermediate-sized filaments (IFs) by its interaction with the desmosomal cadherins, desmoglein (Dsg), and desmocollin (Dsc). This topogenic importance of plakoglobin is now directly shown in living cells as well as in binding assays in vitro. We show that, in transfected human A-431 carcinoma cells, a chimeric protein combining the vesicle-forming transmembrane glycoprotein synaptophysin, with the complete human plakoglobin sequence, is sorted to small vesicles many of which associate with desmosomal plaques and their attached IFs. Immunoprecipitation experiments have further revealed that the chimeric plakoglobin-containing transmembrane molecules of these vesicles are tightly bound to Dsg and Dsc but not to endogenous plakoglobin, thus demonstrating that the binding of plakoglobin to desmosomal cadherins does not require its soluble state and is strong enough to attach large structures such as vesicles to desmosomes. To identify the binding domains and the mechanisms involved in the interaction of plakoglobin with desmosomal cadherins, we have developed direct binding assays in vitro in which plakoglobin or parts thereof, produced by recombinant DNA technology in E. coli, are exposed to molecules containing the "C-domains" of several cadherins. These assays have shown that plakoglobin associates most tightly with the C-domain of Dsg, to a lesser degree with that of Dsc and only weakly with the C-domain of E-cadherin. Three separate segments of plakoglobin containing various numbers of the so-called arm repeats exhibit distinct binding to the desmosomal cadherins comparable in strength to that of the entire molecule. The binding pattern of plakoglobin segments in vitro is compared with that in vivo. Paradoxically, in vitro some internal plakoglobin fragments bind even better to the C-domain of E-cadherin than the entire molecule, indicating that elements exist in native plakoglobin that interfere with the interaction of this protein with its various cadherin partners.

Identification of amino acid sequence motifs in desmocollin, a desmosomal glycoprotein, that are required for plakoglobin binding and plaque formation.

By transfecting epithelial cells with gene constructs encoding chimeric proteins of the transmembrane part of the gap junction protein connexin 32 in combination with various segments of the cytoplasmic part of the desmosomal cadherin desmocollin 1a, we have determined that a relatively short sequence element is necessary for the formation of desmosome-like plaques and for the specific anchorage of bundles of intermediate-sized filaments (IFs). Deletion of as little as the carboxyl-terminal 37 aa resulted in a lack of IF anchorage and binding of the plaque protein plakoglobin, as shown by immunolocalization and immunoprecipitation experiments. In addition, we show that the sequence requirements for the recruitment of desmoplakin, another desmosomal plaque protein, differ and that a short (10 aa) segment of the desmocollin 1a tail, located close to the plasma membrane, is also required for the binding of plakoglobin, as well as of desmoplakin, and also for IF anchorage. The importance of the carboxyl-terminal domain, homologous in diverse types of cadherins, is emphasized, as it must harbor, in a mutually exclusive pattern, the information for assembly of the IF-anchoring desmosomal plaque in desmocollins and for formation of the alpha-/beta-catenin- and vinculin-containing, actin filament-anchoring plaque in E- and N-cadherin.

Identification of the plakoglobin-binding domain in desmoglein and its role in plaque assembly and intermediate filament anchorage.

The carboxyterminal cytoplasmic portions (tails) of desmosomal cadherins of both the desmoglein (Dsg) and desmocollin type are integral components of the desmosomal plaque and are involved in desmosome assembly and the anchorage of intermediate-sized filaments. When additional Dsg tails were introduced by cDNA transfection into cultured human epithelial cells, in the form of chimeras with the aminoterminal membrane insertion domain of rat connexin32 (Co32), the resulting stably transfected cells showed a dominant-negative defect specific for desmosomal junctions: despite the continual presence of all desmosomal proteins, the endogenous desmosomes disappeared and the formation of Co32-Dsg chimeric gap junctions was inhibited. Using cell transfection in combination with immunoprecipitation techniques, we have examined a series of deletion mutants of the Dsg1 tail in Co32-Dsg chimeras. We show that upon removal of the last 262 amino acids the truncated Dsg tail still effects the binding of plakoglobin but not of detectable amounts of any catenin and induces the dominant-negative phenotype. However, further truncation or excision of the next 41 amino acids, which correspond to the highly conserved carboxyterminus of the C-domain in other cadherins, abolishes plakoglobin binding and allows desmosomes to reform. Therefore, we conclude that this short segment provides a plakoglobin-binding site and is important for plaque assembly and the specific anchorage of either actin filaments in adherens junctions or IFs in desmosomes.

Contributions of cytoplasmic domains of desmosomal cadherins to desmosome assembly and intermediate filament anchorage.

To examine the potential of cytoplasmic portions ("tails") of desmosomal cadherins for assembly of desmosome plaque structures and anchorage of intermediate filaments (IFs), we transfected cultured human A-431 carcinoma cells, abundant in desmosomes and cytokeratin IFs, with constructs encoding chimeric proteins in which the transmembranous region of connexin 32 had been fused with tails of desmocollin (Dsc) or desmoglein (Dsg). The results show that the tail of the long splice form a of Dsc, but not its shorter splice form b, contains sufficient information to recruit desmoplakin and plakoglobin to connexon membrane paracrystals (gap junctions) and to form a novel kind of plaque at which cytokeratin IFs attach. By contrast, chimeras containing a Dsg tail, which accumulated in the plasma membrane, showed a dominant-negative effect: they not only were unable to form gap junction structures and plaques but also led to the disappearance of all endogenous desmosomes and the detachment of IFs from the plasma membrane.