Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1998 Nov 6;273(45):29745-53.
doi: 10.1074/jbc.273.45.29745.

The tight junction protein ZO-1 establishes a link between the transmembrane protein occludin and the actin cytoskeleton

A S Fanning  1 , B J Jameson, L A Jesaitis, J M Anderson
Affiliations
Free article

The tight junction protein ZO-1 establishes a link between the transmembrane protein occludin and the actin cytoskeleton

A S Fanning et al. J Biol Chem. .
Free article

Abstract

The tight junction protein ZO-1 belongs to a family of multidomain proteins known as the membrane-associated guanylate kinase homologs (MAGUKs). ZO-1 has been demonstrated to interact with the transmembrane protein occludin, a second tight junction-specific MAGUK, ZO-2, and F-actin, although the nature and functional significance of these interactions is poorly understood. To further elucidate the role of ZO-1 within the epithelial tight junction, we have introduced epitope-tagged fragments of ZO-1 into cultured MDCK cells and identified domains critical for the interaction with ZO-2, occludin, and F-actin. A combination of in vitro and in vivo binding assays indicate that both ZO-2 and occludin interact with specific domains within the N-terminal (MAGUK-like) half of ZO-1, whereas the unique proline-rich C-terminal half of ZO-1 cosediments with F-actin. Consistent with these observations, we found that a construct encoding the N-terminal half of ZO-1 is specifically associated with tight junctions, whereas the unique C-terminal half of ZO-1 is distributed over the entire lateral surface of the plasma membrane and other actin-rich structures. In addition, we have identified a 244-amino acid domain within the N-terminal half of ZO-1, which is required for the stable incorporation of ZO-1 into the junctional complex of polarized MDCK cells. These observations suggest that one functional role of ZO-1 is to organize components of the tight junction and link them to the cortical actin cytoskeleton.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources