Listen to your gut: Using adhesion to shape the surface of functionally diverse epithelia

ABSTRACT

Cell surface protrusions play central roles in the physiological function of a number of organ systems. Recent discoveries suggest that polarized cells in functionally diverse epithelia employ conserved cadherin-based adhesion complexes to shape, stabilize, and organize actin-based protrusions during differentiation. Below we discuss the implications of these findings for understanding human biology and disease, and highlight promising directions for future studies on this conserved mechanism for shaping the cell surface.

KEYWORDS:

• actin
• adhesion
• brush border
• mechanotransduction
• microvilli
• myosin
• stereocilia

This article refers to:

Abbreviations

IMAC	=	intermicrovillar adhesion complex
MF	=	MyTH4/FERM

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Acknowledgments

I thank members of the Tyska laboratory for helpful discussion.

Funding

This work was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grants R01-DK075555 and R01-DK095811 (MJT).