Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Dickinson DJ
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3152298 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Dickinson Daniel J DJ Nelson W James WJ Weis William I WI
Science (New York, N.Y.) 20110301 6022
A fundamental characteristic of metazoans is the formation of a simple, polarized epithelium. In higher animals, the structural integrity and functional polarization of simple epithelia require a cell-cell adhesion complex that contains a classical cadherin, the Wnt-signaling protein β-catenin and the actin-binding protein α-catenin. We show that the non-metazoan Dictyostelium discoideum forms a polarized epithelium that is essential for multicellular development. Although D. discoideum lacks a ...[more]