Sign up for Table of Contents Alerts.

Email this page

Print this page

Extra Views

Phosphoinositides Control Epithelial Development

Fernando Martin-Belmonte and Keith Mostov

Purchase article for $19

Subscribe to this journal for $129/year

Epithelial organs consist on layers of cubical cells that separate different compartments. They form a physical barrier that allows the regulated transports of certain molecules ions. To perform this and other functions epithelial cells require to be highly polarized. The molecular mechanisms that integrate cellular polarity with epithelial architecture poorly understood. Using a three-dimensional model of epithelial morphogenesis, have recently reported a molecular mechanism for the formation of the apical membrane and the central lumen1. This molecular pathway is initiated by the membrane segregation of phosphoinositides at the apical domain. Apically localized phosphatidylinositol(bisphosphate [PtdIns(4,5)P2] recruits the scaffolding protein Annexin2 and the GTPase Cdc42 to generate the apical plasma membrane domain and the central lumen.

Authors

Fernando Martin-Belmonte

Centro de Biologia Molecular “Severo Ochoa” Madrid, Spain

Keith Mostov

University of California, San Francisco; San Francisco, CA

Purchase article for $19

Subscribe to this journal for $129/year