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. 2020 Jan 28;8:6. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2020.00006

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Copyright © 2020 Veeraval, O’Leary and Cooper.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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Apical RG AJ assembly is dependent on the reciprocal interactions between cadherins and the actin cytoskeleton. α-catenin links cadherin to F-actin via β-catenin in a tension-dependent manner and also recruits Formin-1 to catalyze linear actin polymerization. RhoA regulates junctional contractility in response to acute tension by promoting phosphorylation of the Myosin regulatory subunit. Ena/VASP adds G-actin to the barbed end of the growing actin filament. N-WASP and mDia act downstream of Cdc42 and RhoA, respectively, to induce Ena/VASP actin polymerization. Branched actin nucleation is initiated at the cadherin adhesion complex by Arp2/3 which is activated by N-WASP or the WRC. Neogenin recruits the WRC and Arp2/3 to cadherin ensuring that branched actin nucleation is confined to the junctional membrane. Ena/VASP binds to WAVE to enhance Arp2/3-mediated branched actin nucleation.