Tight junctions (blue dots) between cells are connected areas of the plasma membrane that stitch cells together. Adherens junctions (red dots) join the actin filaments of neighboring cells together.

These connective structures, called adherens junctions, play important roles in tissue development and renewal, but remain poorly understood, said Sergey Troyanovsky, Ph.D., professor of ...

Our skin and mucous membranes are protected by epithelial cells, which form a barrier that defends the body from the outside environment. This barrier function relies on specialized structures called ...

In particular, adaptor complexes bind adherens junctions to cytoskeletal actin, and other adaptor complexes bind desmosomes to intermediate filaments. Both of these types of junctional complexes ...

Cellular competition is an essential surveillance mechanism that eliminates unwanted cells, playing a key role in development ...

This function relies to a large extent on the presence of "adherens" and "tight junctions," veritable protein locks linking neighboring cells and ensuring tissue tightness. Tight junctions ...

This function relies to a large extent on the presence of "adherens" and "tight junctions," veritable protein locks linking neighboring cells and ensuring tissue tightness. Tight junctions ...