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. 2021 Jan 11;11:594150. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.594150

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Copyright © 2021 Mohammad and Thiemermann

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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Intestinal epithelial cell junctional proteins. Tight junctions are at the apical end of junctional complexes composed of three transmembrane proteins: occludin claudins and junctional adhesion molecules (JAMs) that bind intracellular membrane proteins, zonula occludens (ZOs) which connects the transmembrane tight junction to the actin skeleton. Below the tight junctions are adherens junctions composed of transmembrane proteins, E-cadherin and nectin linked to the cytoskeleton by scaffolding proteins, catenin and afadin linked to actin filaments. Desmosomes are made up of the transmembrane liner glycoproteins, desmoglein and democollin which are cadherin proteins linked to intermediate keratin filaments. Gap junctions form a tunnel for small molecules to pass between adjacent epithelial cells. Image made using BioRender.