Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Cingulin, a new peripheral component of tight junctions

Nature volume 333, pages 272–276 (1988)Cite this article

Abstract

The tight junction (zonula occludens), a belt-like region of contact between cells of polarized epithelia, serves as a selective barrier to small molecules and as a total barrier to large molecules1,2, and is involved in the separation between lumenal and basolateral compartments of the epithelium3,4. In the electron microscope, tight junctions show focal regions of apparent fusion between the adjoining cell membranes, and freeze-fractured membranes display an elaborate network of branching and anastomosing strands1,5–8. Very little is known about the molecular composition and architecture of tight junctions. The first specific zonula occludens-associated protein, designated ZO-1, has recently been identified in mammalian epithelial and endothelial cells9. Here we describe the identification and purification of a new component of this junc-tional complex in avian brush-border cells, which we name cingulin. Cingulin is an acidic, heat-stable protein, with a highly elongated shape. Immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy of brush-border cells with anti-cingulin antibodies show that cingulin is localized in the apical zone of the terminal web, at the endofacial surfaces of the zonula occludens.

This is a preview of subscription content

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

References

  1. Farquhar, M. G. & Palade, G. J. cell Biol. 17, 375–412 (1963).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Staehelin, L. A. Int. Rev. Cytol. 39, 191–283 (1974).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Simons, K. & Fuller, S. D. A. Rev. Cell Biol. 1, 243–288 (1985).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Van Meer, G. & Simons, K. EMBO J. 5, 1455–1464 (1986).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Goodenough, D. A. & Revel, J. P. J. cell Biol. 45, 272–290 (1970).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kachar, B. & Reese, T. S. Nature 296, 464–466 (1982).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Pinto da Silva, P. & Kachar, B. Cell 28, 441–450 (1982).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Stevenson, B. R. & Goodeneough, D. A. J. cell Biol. 98, 1209–1221 (1984).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Stevenson, B. R., Siliciano, J. D., Mooseker, M. S. & Goodenough, D. A. J. cell Biol. 103, 755–766 (1986).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Matsudaira, P. T. & Burgess, D. R. Cold Spring Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 46, 845–854 (1982).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Mooseker, M. S. A. Rev. Cell Biol. 1, 209–241 (1985).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Hull, B. E. & Staehelin, L. A. J. cell Biol. 81, 67–82 (1979).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Citi, S. & Kendrick-Jones, J. J. cell Biol. 103, Pt2, 394a (1986).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Geiger, B., Dutton, A. H., Tokuyasu, K. T. & Singer, S. J. J. cell Biol. 91, 614–628 (1981).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Marston, S. B. & Smith, W. J. J. Muscle Res. Cell Motil. 6, 669–708 (1985).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Lowey, S., Slayter, H. S., Weeds, A. & Baker, H. J. molec. Biol. 42, 1–29 (1969).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Jockush, B. M. & Isenberg, G. Cold Spring Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 46, 613–623 (1981).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Geiger, B. in International Cell Biology 1980–1981 761–773 (Springer, Berlin 1981).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Ebashi, S. & Ebashi, F. J. biochem, Tokyo 58, 7–12 (1965).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Glenney, J. R., Glenney, P. & Weber, K. J. biol. Chem. 257, 9781–9787 (1982).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Cohen, C. & Parry, D. A. D. Trends biochem. Sci. 11, 245–248 (1986).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  22. De Lanerolle, P., Adelstein, R. S., Feramisco, J. R. & Burridge, K. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 78, 4738–4742 (1981).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Glenney, J. R., Glenney, P. & Weber, K. J. cell Biol. 96, 1491–1496 (1983).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Hirokawa, N., Cheney, R. E. & Willard, M. Cell 32, 953–965 (1983).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Stewart, M. & Edwards, P. FEBS Lett. 168, 75–78 (1984).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Caspar, D. L. D., Cohen, C. & Longley, W. J. molec. Biol. 41, 87–107 (1969).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Glenney, J. R., Glenney, P. & Weber, K. J. molec. Biol. 167, 275–293 (1983).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Bretscher, A. J. biol. Chem. 259, 12873–12880 (1984).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Citi, S. & Kendrick-Jones, J. Eur. J. Biochem. 165, 315–325 (1987).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Citi, S. & Kendrick-Jones, J. J. molec. Biol. 188, 369–382 (1986).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Bretscher, A. & Weber, K. J. cell Biol. 86, 335–340 (1980).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Volk, T. & Geiger, B. J. cell Biol. 103, 1441–1450 (1986).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Matsudaira, P. T. & Burgess, D. R. Analyt. Biochem. 87, 386–396 (1978).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Burnette, W. N. Analyt. Biochem. 112, 195–203 (1981).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Burke, B. E. & Shotton, D. M. EMBO J. 1, 505–508 (1982).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 2QH, UK

    Sandra Citi, Ross Jakes & John Kendrick-Jones

  2. Department of Chemical Immunology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    Sandra Citi, Helena Sabanay & Benjamin Geiger

Authors
  1. Sandra Citi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Helena Sabanay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ross Jakes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Benjamin Geiger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. John Kendrick-Jones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Citi, S., Sabanay, H., Jakes, R. et al. Cingulin, a new peripheral component of tight junctions. Nature 333, 272–276 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/333272a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/333272a0

Further reading

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing