Access

Letter

Nature Cell Biology 8, 963–970 (1 September 2006) | doi:10.1038/ncb1461

Phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate regulates the formation of the basolateral plasma membrane in epithelial cells

Ama Gassama-Diagne , Wei Yu , Martin ter Beest , Fernando Martin-Belmonte , Arlinet Kierbel , Joanne Engel & Keith Mostov

Polarity is a central feature of eukaryotic cells and phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate (PtdIns(3,4,5)P3) has a central role in the polarization of neurons and chemotaxing cells. In polarized epithelial cells, PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 is stably localized at the basolateral plasma membrane, but excluded from the apical plasma membrane, as shown by localization of GFP fused to the PtdIns(3,4,5)P3-binding pleckstrin-homology domain of Akt (GFP-PH–Akt), a fusion protein that indicates the location of PtdIns(3,4,5)P3.