1. MARCH family E3 ubiquitin ligases selectively target and degrade cadherin family proteins.
- Author
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Seo T, Lowery AM, Xu H, Giang W, Troyanovsky SM, Vincent PA, and Kowalczyk AP
- Subjects
- Humans, Adherens Junctions metabolism, Antigens, CD metabolism, Antigens, CD genetics, Cell Adhesion, HEK293 Cells, Membrane Proteins genetics, Membrane Proteins metabolism, Cadherins metabolism, Proteolysis, Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases metabolism, Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases genetics
- Abstract
Cadherin family proteins play a central role in epithelial and endothelial cell-cell adhesion. The dynamic regulation of cell adhesion is achieved in part through endocytic membrane trafficking pathways that modulate cadherin cell surface levels. Here, we define the role for various MARCH family ubiquitin ligases in the regulation of cadherin degradation. We find that MARCH2 selectively downregulates VE-cadherin, resulting in loss of adherens junction proteins at cell borders and a loss of endothelial barrier function. Interestingly, N-cadherin is refractory to MARCH ligase expression, demonstrating that different classical cadherin family proteins are differentially regulated by MARCH family ligases. Using chimeric cadherins, we find that the specificity of different MARCH family ligases for different cadherins is conferred by the cadherin transmembrane domain. Further, juxta-membrane lysine residues are required for cadherin degradation by MARCH proteins. These findings expand our understanding of cadherin regulation and highlight a new role for mammalian MARCH family ubiquitin ligases in differentially regulating cadherin turnover., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Seo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
- Published
- 2024
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