Human Gene Set: KEGG_ADHERENS_JUNCTION


Standard name KEGG_ADHERENS_JUNCTION
Systematic name M638
Brief description Adherens junction
Full description or abstract Cell-cell adherens junctions (AJs), the most common type of intercellular adhesions, are important for maintaining tissue architecture and cell polarity and can limit cell movement and proliferation. At AJs, E-cadherin serves as an essential cell adhesion molecules (CAMs). The cytoplasmic tail binds beta-catenin, which in turn binds alpha-catenin. Alpha-catenin is associated with F-actin bundles directly and indirectly. The integrity of the cadherin-catenin complex is negatively regulated by phosphorylation of beta-catenin by receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and cytoplasmic tyrosine kinases (Fer, Fyn, Yes, and Src), which leads to dissociation of the cadherin-catenin complex. Integrity of this complex is positively regulated by beta -catenin phosphorylation by casein kinase II, and dephosphorylation by protein tyrosine phosphatases. Changes in the phosphorylation state of beta-catenin affect cell-cell adhesion, cell migration and the level of signaling beta-catenin. Wnt signaling acts as a positive regulator of beta-catenin by inhibiting beta-catenin degradation, which stabilizes beta-catenin, and causes its accumulation. Cadherin may acts as a negative regulator of signaling beta-catenin as it binds beta-catenin at the cell surface and thereby sequesters it from the nucleus. Nectins also function as CAMs at AJs, but are more highly concentrated at AJs than E-cadherin. Nectins transduce signals through Cdc42 and Rac, which reorganize the actin cytoskeleton, regulate the formation of AJs, and strengthen cell-cell adhesion.
Collection C2: Curated
      CP: Canonical Pathways
            CP:KEGG_LEGACY: KEGG Legacy Pathways
Source publication  
Exact source hsa04520
Related gene sets  
External links http://www.genome.jp/pathway/hsa04520
Filtered by similarity ?
Source species Homo sapiens
Contributed by KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes)
Source platform or
identifier namespace
Human_NCBI_Gene_ID
Dataset references  
Download gene set format: grp | gmt | xml | json | TSV metadata
Compute overlaps ? (show collections to investigate for overlap with this gene set)
Compendia expression profiles ? NG-CHM interactive heatmaps
(Please note that clustering takes a few seconds)
GTEx compendium
Human tissue compendium (Novartis)
Global Cancer Map (Broad Institute)
NCI-60 cell lines (National Cancer Institute)

Legacy heatmaps (PNG)
GTEx compendium
Human tissue compendium (Novartis)
Global Cancer Map (Broad Institute)
NCI-60 cell lines (National Cancer Institute)
Advanced query Further investigate these 73 genes
Gene families ? Categorize these 73 genes by gene family
Show members (show 75 source identifiers mapped to 73 genes)
Version history  

The content of the gene sets in the KEGG_LEGACY collection has not been updated since KEGG restricted their usage terms in 2011. More recent sets are available in the KEGG_MEDICUS collection, derived from KEGG's openly available MEDICUS subset.


See MSigDB license terms here. Please note that certain gene sets have special access terms.