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. 2005 Mar 30;25(13):3259–3269. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5168-04.2005

Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Full-length E-cadherin is necessary for maintenance of the cell architecture. A, IL2R/E-cadherin constructs used in this study. The distal domain of E-cadherin cytoplasmic tail (light blue) interacts with β-catenin, whereas the juxtamembrane domain (dark blue) interacts with p120ctn. All constructs are tagged with 3xFlag tag (green). IL2R, Extracellular and transmembrane domains of IL2R. B, Top, IL2R-EcadCYTO construct (red) expressed in a myelinated Schwann cell colocalizes with β-catenin (green) in clusters (arrowheads) at the periphery of the cell. Bottom, IL2R-EcadJMD construct (red) does not colocalize with β-catenin (green) in clusters (arrowheads). Scale bars, 2.5 μm. C, Top, Node of Ranvier having on one side a cell expressing IL2R-EcadCYTO (white arrowhead) but no E-cadherin and on the other side a noninfected cell expressing E-cadherin (yellow arrowhead). Bottom, At a node, a cell (white arrowhead) expressing IL2R-EcadJMD (red) also displays E-cadherin (green) as does a noninfected cell (yellow arrowhead). Scale bars, 10 μm. D, Percentage of cells displaying incisures was determined after infection with viruses expressing different constructs. The presence of incisures was assessed by the presence of transverse bands labeled with GFP or with connexin 29/CNPase immunostaining. Only 16% of the cells infected with IL2R-EcadCYTO maintained one or more incisure. Wounded or dying cells were not counted. Number of cells scored: GFP, 15; IL2R-EcadCYTO, 12; IL2R-EcadJMD, 7; IL2R-3xFlag, 17. E, Myelinated Schwann cells infected with control GFP adenovirus (top) or IL2R-EcadCYTO adenovirus (bottom) as observed by the expression of GFP in the cytoplasm. Scale bars, 20 μm. F, Detail of the GFP distribution in cells infected with GFP virus (top) or IL2R-EcadCYTO virus (bottom). Scale bars, 10 μm. G, Electron micrographs of transversal sections of an IL2R-CcadCYTO-infected nerve (right) and a noninfected nerve (left). Asterisks indicate a normal incisure, brackets indicate the compact myelin, and “C” indicates the cytoplasm inside the compact myelin. Scale bars, 500 nm.