Influence of cytoplasmic deletions on the filopodia-inducing effect of syndecan-3

Syndecans, transmembrane heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPG), mediate cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion thereby, controlling cell movement and shape. Syndecan cytoplasmic domains are very short (ca. 30 amino acids) and divided into two constant regions (C1 and C2) separated by one variable (V) region. Here we attempted to map the cytoplasmic region responsible for the filopodia-inducing effect of syndecan-3. We found that only the C1-region was necessary for this effect. In addition. the deletion of the C2-region led to extensive membrane blebbing. Nevertheless, the elimination of the entire cytoplasmic region did not affect delivery of syndecan-3 to the plasma membrane. These results indicate that the different regions of syndecan-3 cytoplasmic domain have different functions probably by binding to distinct proteins. (C) 2004 International Federation for Cell Biology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.