Carboxyl terminus of plakophilin-1 recruits it to plasma membrane, whereas amino terminus recruits desmoplakin and promotes desmosome assembly

Tammy Sobolik-Delmaire, Dawn Katafiasz, James K. Wahl

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

Plakophilins are armadillo repeat-containing proteins, initially identified as desmosomal plaque proteins that have subsequently been shown to also localize to the nucleus. Loss of plakophilin-1 is the underlying cause of ectodermal dysplasia/skin fragility syndrome, and skin from these patients exhibits desmosomes that are reduced in size and number. Thus, it has been suggested that plakophilin-1 plays an important role in desmosome stability and/or assembly. In this study, we used a cell culture system (A431DE cells) that expresses all of the proteins necessary to assemble a desmosome, except plakophilin-1. Using this cell line, we sought to determine the role of plakophilin-1 in de novo desmosome assembly. Whenexogenous plakophilin-1 was expressed in these cells, desmosomes were assembled, as assessed by electron microscopy and immunofluorescence localization of desmoplakin, into punctate structures. Deletion mutagenesis experiments revealed that amino acids 686-726 in the carboxyl terminus of plakophilin-1 are required for its localization to the plasmamembrane. In addition,weshowed that amino acids 1-34 in the amino terminus were necessary for subsequent recruitment of desmoplakin to the membrane and desmosome assembly.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)16962-16970
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Biological Chemistry
Volume281
Issue number25
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 23 2006

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

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