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Fig. 1. Immunofluorescence localization of occludin (ROC-896 antigen) in Xenopus laevis embryos. Embryos at stages 6 (32-cell) (A,B), 11 (midgastrula) (C,D), 30 (tailbud) (E,F) were labelled with rabbit immune serum (A,C,E) or preimmune serum (B,D,F), followed by FITC-labelled
secondary antibody. Note the junctional localization of the antigen at all stages, and the lack of junctional reactivity using preimmune serum. Pigment granules are visible as small black dots in A,B,C. The diffuse cytoplasmic fluorescence in D is probably due to autofluorescence of yolk particles. Bar, 50 mm.
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Fig. 2. Double immunofluorescence localization of cingulin (A) and
occludin (B) in Xenopus embryos. Stage 30 embryo ectoderm was stained with anti-Xenopus cingulin mouse immune serum M902 (A) and with ROC-896 rabbit immune serum (B), followed by TRITC-labelled anti-mouse (A) or FITC-labelled anti-rabbit (B) secondary antibodies. The diffuse cytoplasmic labeling seen in B was hardly detected when a different secondary antibody was used. Bar, 30 mm.
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Fig. 3. Immunoblot analysis of Xenopus embryo (gastrula) extract with preimmune rabbit (ROC- 896) serum (P) and immune serum (I). Note that a polypeptide of approximate molecular size of 57 kDa is specifically recognized by the immune serum. White triangles on the right indicate
cross-reacting polypeptides that are weakly stained by the antiserum (approximate molecular mass 150, 100, 45, 38 kDa).
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Fig. 4. Solubility of Xenopus laevis occludin as determined by
immunoblotting analysis of fractions with ROC-896 antiserum.
(A) Supernatant fractions from unfertilized eggs and gastrulae
embryos after biochemical fractionation and centrifugation (see
Materials and Methods): F, floating fraction; C, cytoplasmic soluble
protein supernatant fraction; M, membrane protein supernatant
fraction; T, total extract. Note that occludin is detected in the total,
membrane, and (weakly) in the floating fractions of both eggs and
embryos, and weakly in the cytoplasmic soluble fraction of
unfertilized eggs only. The polypeptides of approximately 45 kDa
and 38 kDa are probably degradation products, since their presence
and amount was variable from experiment to experiment. Note that
the apparent molecular mass of the antigen in unfertilized eggs was
higher than in gastrulae (see also Figs 5 and 6). (B) Supernatant
(C/S, M/S, S/S) and pellet (C/P, M/P, S/P) fractions from neurulae
after extraction with lysis buffer âCâ (no detergents, see Materials
and Methods) (lanes C), or with lysis buffer âMâ (with Triton X-100
and NP-40, lanes M), or with lysis buffer âSâ (with Triton X-100,
NP-40 and SDS, lanes S). Note that apparently complete extraction
of occludin is obtained with non-ionic detergents. Numbers on the
left indicate apparent molecular sizes based on the migration of
prestained molecular mass markers.
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Fig. 5. Electrophoretic shift of Xenopus occludin during early
development. Immunoblot analysis with ROC-896 of extracts from
unfertilized eggs (V), 16-cell embryo (16), 32-cell embryo (32), early
blastula stage 7 (B7), midblastula stage 8 (B8), gastrula stage 11 (G),
neurula stage 17 (N), and tailbud stage 28 (TB). Numbers on the left
indicate approximate molecular mass, determined on the basis of the
migration of prestained standards. Arrows on the right indicate the
migration of the slower and faster mobility forms.
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Fig. 6. Time course of occludin dephosphorylation by acid
phosphatase. Immunoblot analysis of occludin from extracts of
unfertilized Xenopus eggs with (+) or without (-) incubation with
acid phosphatase for 0, 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes. G, untreated
gastrulae extract; V, untreated unfertilized eggs extract. Numbers on
the left indicate migration of molecular size standards. Black arrow
on the right indicates the slow migrating form of occludin. White
triangle on the right indicates the migration range of the faster
migrating forms of occludin.
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Fig. 7. Specificity of dephosphorylation of occludin by acid
phosphatase. Immunoblot analysis of samples with (+) or without (-)
acid phosphatase (Pâase), phosphatase inhibitor phenylarsine oxide
20 mM (inhibit), unfertilized Xenopus eggs extract (Extract) after 0
and 60 minutes incubation at 37°C. (0-), extract prior to addition of
10´ dephosphorylation buffer. Stage 8, untreated extract from stage 8
blastula Xenopus embryos. Numbers on the left indicate approximate
molecular mass, determined on the basis of the migration of
prestained standards. Arrows on the right indicate the migration of
the slower and faster mobility forms of occludin. Note that acid
phosphatase migrates with an apparent size of 45 kDa, and
comigrates with the putative degradation product of occludin.
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Fig. 8. SDS-PAGE (A) and corresponding [32P] autoradiogram (B) of
samples containing GST alone (lanes 1, 3, 5, 7 in A and
corresponding lanes 1¢, 3¢, 5¢, 7¢ in B) and GST-(chicken occludin Cterminal
cytoplasmic tail)(lanes 2, 4, 6, 8 in A and corresponding
lanes 2¢, 4¢, 6¢, 8¢ in B) after incubation with p34cdc2/cyclin B
(cdc2)(lanes 1, 2 and 1¢, 2¢), mitogen-activated protein kinase
(MAPK)(lanes 3, 4, and 3¢, 4¢), protein kinase CK2 (CK2)(lanes 5, 6,
and 5¢, 6¢) and cAMP-dependent protein kinase (pKA)(lanes 7, 8,
and 7¢, 8¢) for 15 minutes at 37°C. Note that GST-ChOc is
phosphorylated by cdc2 and CK2, and is not significantly
phosphorylated by MAPK and pKA (see also Table 1). Also note that
pKA (slower migrating polypeptide) is autophosphorylated. The
apparent molecular mass of GST and GST-ChOc was 29 kDa and 48
kDa, respectively.
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