E-cadherin is expressed in epithelial cells during development and in adult tissues (Vestweber and Kemler 1984, Takeichi 1988). E-cadherins function in providing adhesion abilities of epithelial cells, inducing epithelial polarization (McNeill et al. 1990), and forming the epithelial junctional complexes (Gumbiner et al. 1988). E-cadherin is present on the cell surface throughout all stages of preimplantation development. Before compaction, E-cadherin uniformly distributed on the surface of the egg and teh two-cell-stage embryo . However, during compaction, E-cadherin are progressively redistributed on the cell surface and predominantly concentrated in membrane domains that are involved in the cell-cell contact. In compact morula, E-cadherin is no longer present on the outer surface of the embryo; it is located exclusively on the basolateral memberanes of the outer cells, and is concentrated in their adherens junctions. E-cadherin remains uniformly distributed on inner cells. Once this differential distribution has been established during compaction, it is maintained and is also found in the blastocyst ( see Ringwald 1994).
Biological Structure & Functions
Process of E-cadherin Mediated Cell Adhesin
Information of Cadherins in PDB
By John A. Chen, Dept of
Entomology, Univ of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-2603
Nov. 26,
2001