adherens junction

{{Short description|Protein complexes at cell junctions}}

{{Infobox anatomy

|Name = Adherens junction

|Latin = junctio adhaesionis

}}

Image:Adherens Junctions structural proteins.svg. The head domain of vinculin associates to E-cadherin via α-, β - and γ -catenins. The tail domain of vinculin binds to membrane lipids and to actin filaments.]]

In cell biology, adherens junctions (or zonula adherens, intermediate junction, or "belt desmosome"{{Cite journal|first = Craig, SW|last = Pardo, JV|title = alpha-Actinin localization in the junctional complex of intestinal epithelial cells|date = 1979|url = http://jcb.rupress.org/content/80/1/203.abstract|journal = J Cell Biol|doi = 10.1083/jcb.80.1.203 |access-date = 15 October 2014|volume=80|issue = 1|pages=203–210|pmc = 2110298|pmid=370125}}) are protein complexes that occur at cell–cell junctions and cell–matrix junctions in epithelial and endothelial tissues,{{cite journal|last=Guo|first=Renyong|author2=Sakamoto, Hiroshi |author3=Sugiura, Shigeki|title=Endothelial Cell Motility Is Compatible With Junctional Integrity|journal=Journal of Cellular Physiology|date=October 2006|doi=10.1002/jcp.20937|volume=211|issue=2|pages=327–335|pmid=17167782|s2cid=11590025}} usually more basal than tight junctions. An adherens junction is defined as a cell junction whose cytoplasmic face is linked to the actin cytoskeleton.

They can appear as bands encircling the cell (zonula adherens) or as spots of attachment to the extracellular matrix (focal adhesion).

Adherens junctions uniquely disassemble in uterine epithelial cells to allow the blastocyst to penetrate between epithelial cells.{{cite journal |vauthors=Dowland S, Madawala R, Lindsay L, Murphy C | title = The adherens junction is lost during normal pregnancy but not during ovarian hyperstimulated pregnancy. | journal = Acta Histochemica | volume = 118 | issue = 2 | pages = 137–143 | year = 2016 | pmid = 26738975 | doi = 10.1016/j.acthis.2015.12.004 }}

A similar cell junction in non-epithelial, non-endothelial cells is the fascia adherens. It is structurally the same, but appears in ribbonlike patterns that do not completely encircle the cells. One example is in cardiomyocytes.