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β-catenin and its multiple partners: promiscuity explained

β-catenin functions both in cadherin-mediated cell adhesion and the Wnt signaling pathway. In these roles, β-catenin interacts with a multitude of protein partners including cadherins, α-catenin, axin, APC, and Tcf family transcription factors. Recent crystal structures show how β-catenin can achieve this remarkably diverse functionality.

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Figure 1: β-catenin function in adhesion and signaling.
Figure 2: Overall folding topology and structure of the armadillo repeat region from β-catenin.
Figure 3: Overall structure of the β-catenin-E-cadherin complex.
Figure 4: Comparison of E-cadherin cytoplasmic region and XTcf-3 binding to β-catenin.

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Shapiro, L. β-catenin and its multiple partners: promiscuity explained. Nat Struct Mol Biol 8, 484–487 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/88532

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