Speaker: Jurian Schuijers, Ph.D., group leader, Center for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht

Time: 13:00-14:30 p.m., July 19, 2024, GMT+8

Venue: B101, Lui Che-woo Building, PKU

Abstract: 

Beta-catenin plays a critical role in both gene expression and cell-cell adhesion through interaction with different binding partners at the membrane and in the nucleus. How it combines these two disparate functions is unclear. We have found that beta-catenin forms phase-separated condensates that aids its functions in both cellular adhesion and transcriptional regulation. Weak transient interactions by intrinsically disordered domains of beta-catenin drive condensate formation that drives target selection and efficient transcription and drives clustering necessary for effective adherens junction formation. These findings show that condensate formation is an inherent characteristic of beta-catenin that is used to equip a single protein with multiple distinctly separate functions.

Source: School of Life Sciences, PKU