Determination of C-Terminal δ-Catenin Responsible for Inducing Dendritic Morphogenesis

δ-Catenin induces dendritic morphogenesis in several cells and it was reported that deletion of C-terminal 207 amino acid of δ-catenin completely abolished the dendritic morphogenesis. However, exact domain responsible for inducing dendritic morphogenesis in C-terminus of δ-catenin was not mapped. Here, we report that expression of ΔC47 (lacking 47 amino acid of C-terminus: 1-1200), ΔC77 (lacking 77 amino acid of C-terminus: 1-1170) deletion mutants of δ-catenin induced the dendritic morphogenesis of HEK293T and NIH3T3 cells as full-length δ-catenin did. In agreement with previous report, ΔC207 deletion mutant did not show the dendritic morphogenesis of the cells. Interestingly, introducing 107 amino acid deletion of C-terminus (ΔC107 mutant: 1-1140) and 177 amino acid deletion of C-terminus (ΔC177 mutant: 1-1070) showed limited primary and secondary dendritic process and notable spine-like process formation. These results suggest that 1140-1170 amino acid of C-terminal δ-catenin is required for primary and secondary dendrite-like process formation.