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| Subject Categories: Cell & Tissue Architecture |
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| The EMBO Journal
(2002) 21, 2537–2546, doi: 10.1093/emboj/21.11.2537 |
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| Fast dissociation kinetics between individual E-cadherin fragments revealed by flow chamber analysis |
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| Emilie Perret1, Anne-Marie Benoliel2, Pierre Nassoy3, Anne Pierres2, Véronique Delmas4, Jean-Paul Thiery1, Pierre Bongrand2 and Hélène Feracci1 |
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1 Laboratoire de Morphogenèse Cellulaire et Différenciation Tumorale, UMR 144, CNRS/Institut Curie, 26 rue d'Ulm, F-75248 Paris Cedex 05, France 2 Laboratoire d'Immunologie, INSERM U 387, Hôpital de Sainte-Marguerite, BP 29, F-13274 Marseille Cedex 09, France 3 Physico-Chimie Curie, UMR 168, CNRS/Institut Curie, 26 rue d'Ulm, F-75248 Paris Cedex 05, France 4 Laboratoire de Génétique du Développement des Mélanocytes, Institut Curie/CNRS UMR 146, Bâtiment 110, Centre Universitaire, F-91405 Orsay, France To whom correspondence should be addressed Hélène Feracci, Helene.Feracci@curie.fr Received 11 December 2001; Revised 27 March 2002; Accepted 5 April 2002. |
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| Abstract |
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| E-cadherin is the predominant adhesion molecule of epithelia. The interaction between extracellular segments of E-cadherin in the membrane of opposing cells is homophilic and calcium dependent. Whereas it is widely accepted that the specificity of the adhesive interaction is localized to the N-terminal domain, the kinetics of the recognition process are unknown. We report the first quantitative data describing the dissociation kinetics of individual E-cadherin interactions. Aggregation assays indicate that the two outermost domains of E-cadherin (E/EC1−2) retain biological activity when chemically immobilized on glass beads. Cadherin fragment trans-interaction was analysed using a flow chamber technique. Transient tethers had first-order kinetics, suggesting a unimolecular interaction. The unstressed lifetime of individual E-cadherin interactions was as brief as 2 s. A fast off rate and the low tensile strength of the E-cadherin bond may be necessary to support the high selectivity and plasticity of epithelial cell interactions. |
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| Keywords: cell adhesion, E-cadherin, flow chamber, kinetics, mechanism |
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