Fig. 1.

Eya1 deletion causes TJ protein disassembly in lung distal epithelium. (A–H′) Immunofluorescence with specific antibodies shows no apparent differences in E-cadherin expression in Eya1^−/− versus WT epithelium (A,A′,B,B′). ZO-1 (E,E′), occludin (C,C′) and claudin1 (G,G′) specifically localize to the most apical part of lateral membranes of WT distal epithelial cells (arrowheads), but fail to concentrate apically in lateral membranes and localize at both the basal and apical sides in Eya1^−/− epithelial cells (F,F′,D,D′,H,H′, arrows). Note disorganized distal epithelial tip cells in B,B′,H,H′ compared to A,A′,G,G′. The dashed line represents the collagen-IV-stained basement membrane. A′–H′ are electronic magnifications from epithelial tip areas in A–H respectively. Scale bars: 50 µm. (I) Eya1 co-immunoprecipitates TJ proteins in vivo. Endogenous Eya1 was immunoprecipitated from E14.5 lung cell lysates with a specific Eya1 antibody and western blotting was performed with antibodies specific to different TJ proteins.