Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA.
Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2009 Aug;1(2):a002543. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a002543.
Desmosomes are intercellular junctions that tether intermediate filaments to the plasma membrane. Desmogleins and desmocollins, members of the cadherin superfamily, mediate adhesion at desmosomes. Cytoplasmic components of the desmosome associate with the desmosomal cadherin tails through a series of protein interactions, which serve to recruit intermediate filaments to sites of desmosome assembly. These desmosomal plaque components include plakoglobin and the plakophilins, members of the armadillo gene family. Linkage to the cytoskeleton is mediated by the intermediate filament binding protein, desmoplakin, which associates with both plakoglobin and plakophilins. Although desmosomes are critical for maintaining stable cell-cell adhesion, emerging evidence indicates that they are also dynamic structures that contribute to cellular processes beyond that of cell adhesion. This article outlines the structure and function of the major desmosomal proteins, and explores the contributions of this protein complex to tissue architecture and morphogenesis.
桥粒是将中间丝连接到质膜上的细胞间连接。桥粒蛋白和桥粒芯胶蛋白是钙黏着蛋白超家族的成员，介导桥粒处的黏附。桥粒的细胞质成分通过一系列蛋白相互作用与桥粒钙黏着蛋白尾部结合，这些相互作用有助于将中间丝募集到桥粒组装的部位。这些桥粒斑成分包括桥粒斑蛋白和桥粒胶蛋白，它们是卷曲蛋白基因家族的成员。通过与中间丝结合蛋白桥粒 plakophilin 结合，将桥粒与细胞骨架连接起来，桥粒 plakophilin 与桥粒斑蛋白和桥粒胶蛋白都结合。尽管桥粒对于维持稳定的细胞间黏附至关重要，但新出现的证据表明它们也是动态结构，有助于细胞黏附以外的细胞过程。本文概述了主要桥粒蛋白的结构和功能，并探讨了该蛋白复合物对组织架构和形态发生的贡献。
