Striatins as plaque molecules of zonulae adhaerentes in simple epithelia, of tessellate junctions in stratified epithelia, of cardiac composite junctions and of various size classes of lateral adherens junctions in cultures of epithelia- and carcinoma-derived cells

Proteins of the striatin family (striatins 1–4; sizes ranging from 90 to 110 kDa on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) are highly homologous in their amino acid sequences but can differ in their cell-type-specific gene expression patterns and biological functions. In various cell types, we have found one, two or three polypeptides of this evolutionarily old and nearly ubiquitous family of proteins known to serve as scaffold proteins for diverse protein complexes. Light and electron microscopic immunolocalization methods have revealed striatins in mammalian cell-cell adherens junctions (AJs). In simple epithelia, we have localized striatins as constitutive components of the plaques of the subapical zonulae adhaerentes of cells, including intestinal, glandular, ductal and urothelial cells and hepatocytes. Striatins colocalize with E-cadherin or E–N-cadherin heterodimers and with the plaque proteins α- and β-catenin, p120 and p0071. In some epithelia and carcinomas and in cultured cells derived therefrom, striatins are also seen in lateral AJs. In stratified epithelia and in corresponding squamous cell carcinomas, striatins can be found in plaques of some forms of tessellate junctions. Moreover, striatins are major plaque proteins of composite junctions (CJs; areae compositae) in the intercalated disks connecting cardiomyocytes, colocalizing with other CJ molecules, including plectin and ankyrin-G. We discuss the “multimodulator” scaffold roles of striatins in the initiation and regulation of the formation of various complex particles and structures. We propose that striatins are included in the diagnostic candidate list of proteins that, in the CJs of human hearts, can occur in mutated forms in the pathogeneses of hereditary cardiomyopathies, as seen in some types of genetically determined heart damage in boxer dogs.German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF grant I-1098-43.11/2010

The cell-cell junctions of mammalian testes: I. The adhering junctions of the seminiferous epithelium represent special differentiation structures

The seminiferous tubules and the excurrent ducts of the mammalian testis are physiologically separated from the mesenchymal tissues and the blood and lymph system by a special structural barrier to paracellular translocations of molecules and particles: the “blood–testis barrier”, formed by junctions connecting Sertoli cells with each other and with spermatogonial cells. In combined biochemical as well as light and electron microscopical studies we systematically determine the molecules located in the adhering junctions of adult mammalian (human, bovine, porcine, murine, i.e., rat and mouse) testis. We show that the seminiferous epithelium does not contain desmosomes, or “desmosome-like” junctions, nor any of the desmosome-specific marker molecules and that the adhering junctions of tubules and ductules are fundamentally different. While the ductules contain classical epithelial cell layers with E-cadherin-based adherens junctions (AJs) and typical desmosomes, the Sertoli cells of the tubules lack desmosomes and “desmosome-like” junctions but are connected by morphologically different forms of AJs. These junctions are based on N-cadherin anchored in cytoplasmic plaques, which in some subforms appear thick and dense but in other subforms contain only scarce and loosely arranged plaque structures formed by α- and β-catenin, proteins p120, p0071 and plakoglobin, together with a member of the striatin family and also, in rodents, the proteins ZO-1 and myozap. These N-cadherin-based AJs also include two novel types of junctions: the “areae adhaerentes”, i.e., variously-sized, often very large cell-cell contacts and small sieve-plate-like AJs perforated by cytoplasm-to-cytoplasm channels of 5–7 nm internal diameter (“cribelliform junctions”). We emphasize the unique character of this epithelium that totally lacks major epithelial marker molecules and structures such as keratin filaments and desmosomal elements as well as EpCAM- and PERP-containing junctions. We also discuss the nature, development and possible functions of these junctions.German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF grant I-1098-43.11/2010