Departments of Dermatology and Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Pennsylvania State University, College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA.
Department of Cell, Developmental, and Integrative Biology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
J Cell Biol. 2024 Sep 2;223(9). doi: 10.1083/jcb.202404120. Epub 2024 Aug 9.
The desmosome is a cell-cell adhesive junction that provides integrity and mechanical resistance to tissues through its attachment to the intermediate filament cytoskeleton. Defects in desmosomes cause diseases impacting the heart, epidermis, and other epithelia. In this review, we provide a historical perspective on the discovery of the desmosome and how the evolution of cellular imaging technologies revealed insights into desmosome structure and function. We also discuss recent findings using contemporary imaging approaches that have informed the molecular order, three-dimensional architecture, and associations of desmosomes with organelles such as the endoplasmic reticulum. Finally, we provide an updated model of desmosome molecular organization and speculate upon novel functions of this cell junction as a signaling center for sensing mechanical and other forms of cell stress.
桥粒是一种细胞-细胞黏附连接，通过与中间丝细胞骨架的附着为组织提供完整性和机械抗性。桥粒缺陷会导致影响心脏、表皮和其他上皮组织的疾病。在这篇综述中，我们提供了桥粒发现的历史背景，以及细胞成像技术的发展如何揭示了桥粒结构和功能的见解。我们还讨论了使用当代成像方法的最新发现，这些发现为桥粒的分子顺序、三维结构以及与内质网等细胞器的关联提供了信息。最后，我们提供了桥粒分子组织的更新模型，并推测了这个细胞连接作为感受机械和其他形式细胞应激的信号中心的新功能。
