Adherens junction

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.

It is structurally the same, but appears in ribbonlike patterns that do not completely encircle the cells.

Adherens junctions are composed of the following proteins:[4] Adherens junctions were, for many years, thought to share the characteristic of anchor cells through their cytoplasmic actin filaments.

Adherens junctions may serve as a regulatory module to maintain the actin contractile ring with which it is associated in microscopic studies.

Principal interactions of structural proteins at cadherin-based adherens junction. Actin filaments are associated with adherens junctions in addition to several other actin-binding proteins such as vinculin . 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.