Figure 5.

Gα₁₃a interacts with E-cadherin and inhibits cell adhesion. (A) Gα₁₃a interacts with the cytoplasmic domain of E-cadherin. The GST pull-down assay was performed on cell extracts from HEK 293 cells cotransfected with Gα₁₃a and either GST or a GST-tagged cytoplasmic domain of E-cadherin (GST–E-cad–CyT). The precipitates were immunoblotted with anti-Gα₁₃ and anti-GST antibodies. The level of Gα₁₃a expression in the lysates is shown at the bottom of the panel. (B) β-catenin competes with E-cadherin for binding to Gα₁₃a in a dose-dependent manner. HEK 293 cells were transfected with Gα₁₃a and GST–E-cad–CyT with or without β-catenin at various doses, and the GST pull-down assay was performed. The expression levels of β-catenin and Gα₁₃a in the lysates are shown. (C and D) Overexpression of Gα₁₃a enhances cell scattering in the blastoderm. Shown are representative images of labeled cells in the blastoderm of control WT embryos and embryos overexpressing Gα₁₃a scattering over time. The area of cell scattering is indicated by the yellow broken lines, which mark the cells at the outer edge. Bars, 100 µm. (E) Quantitative data from four separate experiments (eight embryos in each group), showing the ratio of the area of cell scattering relative to the starting point, at different time points. Error bars represent mean ± SEM. *, P < 0.05 versus control.