Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Dec 16.
Published in final edited form as: J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2009 Jul;124(1):3–22. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2009.05.038

Figure 3. Tight Junctions.

Figure 3

TJs are localized to the apical-lateral membrane junction. They consist of integral transmembrane proteins (occludin, claudins and junctional adhesion molecules (JAMs)) that interact in the paracellular space with proteins on adjacent cells. Interactions can be homophilic (eg claudin-1/claudin-1) or heterophilic (claudin-1/claudin-3). The intracellular domains of transmembrane proteins interact with PDZ-domain-containing adaptor proteins that mechanically link the TJ complex to the actin cytoskeleton. TJ proteins are regulated by phosphorylation by kinases, phosphatases and other signaling molecules.