Salt Bridges Gate Alpha-Catenin Activation at Intercellular Junctions.

Cadherin complexes transduce force fluctuations at junctions to activate signals that reinforce stressed intercellular contacts. α-Catenin is an identified force transducer within cadherin complexes that is autoinhibited under low tension. Increased force triggers a conformational change that exposes a cryptic site for the actin-binding protein vinculin. This study tested predictions that salt bridges within the force-sensing core modulate α-catenin activation. Studies with a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based α-catenin conformation sensor demonstrated that the salt-bridge mutations R551A and D503N each enhance α-catenin activation in live cells, but R551A has a greater impact. Under dynamic force loading at reannealing cell-cell junctions, the R551A mutant bound more vinculin than wild-type α-catenin. In vitro binding measurements quantified the impact of the R551A mutation on the free energy difference between the active and autoinhibited α-catenin conformers. A two-microsecond, constant-force steered molecular dynamics simulation of the core force-sensing region suggested how the salt-bridge mutants alter the α-catenin conformation, and identified a novel load-bearing salt bridge. These results reveal key structural features that determine the force-transduction mechanism and the force sensitivity of this crucial nanomachine. © 2017 by The American Society for Cell Biology.

Citation

Samantha Barrick, Jing Li, Xinyu Kong, Alokananda Ray, Emad Tajkhorshid, Deborah Leckband. Salt Bridges Gate Alpha-Catenin Activation at Intercellular Junctions. Molecular biology of the cell. 2017 Nov 15

PMID: 29142072

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