Malcolm Steinberg

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Malcolm Saul Steinberg (June 1, 1930 - February 7, 2012) was an American biologist [1] who proposed the differential adhesion hypothesis as a mechanism explaining cell sorting during embryogenesis and cancer. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Steinberg proposed that when cells form distinct tissues, specific cell-cell adhesion between cells from the same tissue can drive the separation. He further proposed that a difference in level of cell adhesion molecules expression between two cell types was sufficient to drive the separation. [6] He confirmed these predictions in a model system in which adhesion between cells of a cultured line of mouse cells was controlled by genetic expression levels of cadherin. [7]

Steinberg pioneered work in characterizing the physical properties of cells and tissues. He proposed that cell-cell adhesion drives tissue rounding up and, comparing tissues to liquids, he proposed that tissues have a surface tension. To measure tissue surface tension, he participated in building a compression device for rounded cell aggregates, [8] [9] and in sessile droplet experiments in which aggregates of cells were centrifuged at 37 degrees until their shapes reached equilibrium. [10] [11]

Later experiments led him to conclude that differential adhesion, and an adhesion gradient, guide the salamander pronephric duct to the cloaca during embryonic development. [12]

Steinberg completed his BS at Amherst College in 1952, his PhD in zoology at the University of Minnesota in 1956, was a professor of biology at Johns Hopkins University from 1958 to 1966, and transferred to Princeton University in 1966, becoming professor emeritus in 2005.

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α-Catenin (alpha-catenin) functions as the primary protein link between cadherins and the actin cytoskeleton. It has been reported that the actin binding proteins vinculin and α-actinin can bind to alpha-catenin. It has been suggested that alpha-catenin does not bind with high affinity to both actin filaments and the E-cadherin-beta-catenin complex at the same time. It has been observed that when α-catenin is not in a molecular complex with β-catenin, it dimerizes and functions to regulate actin filament assembly, possibly by competing with Arp2/3 protein. α-Catenin exhibits significant protein dynamics. However, a protein complex including a cadherin, actin, β-catenin and α-catenin has not been isolated.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">CDH6</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">CDH15</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCDHB16</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">CDH12</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Cadherin-12 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CDH12 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCDHB13</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Protocadherin beta-13 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PCDHB13 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCDHB14</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Protocadherin beta-14 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PCDHB14 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCDHB11</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Protocadherin beta-11 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PCDHB11 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCDHB2</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Protocadherin beta-2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PCDHB2 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCDH7</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCDHB9</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Protocadherin beta-9 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PCDHB9 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCDHB7</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Protocadherin beta-7 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PCDHB7 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCDHB4</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCDHB12</span> Protein-coding gene in humans

Protocadherin beta-12 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PCDHB12 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCDHB3</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Protocadherin beta-3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PCDHB3 gene.

References

  1. ↑ Obituary
  2. ↑ Steinberg, Malcolm S. (1962). "On the mechanism of tissue reconstruction by dissociated cells, I. Population kinetics, differential adhesiveness, and the absence of directed migration". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 48 (9): 1577–1582. Bibcode:1962PNAS...48.1577S. doi: 10.1073/pnas.48.9.1577 . PMC   221002 . PMID   13916689.
  3. ↑ Steinberg, Malcolm S. (1962). "Mechanism of tissue reconstruction by dissociated cells. II. Time-course of events". Science. 137 (3532): 762–3. Bibcode:1962Sci...137..762S. doi:10.1126/science.137.3532.762. PMID   13916688. S2CID   29591598 . Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  4. ↑ Steinberg, Malcolm S. (1963). "Reconstruction of tissues by dissociated cells. Some morphogenetic tissue movements and the sorting out of embryonic cells may have a common explanation". Science. 141 (3579): 401–8. doi:10.1126/science.141.3579.401. PMID   13983728 . Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  5. ↑ Steinberg, Malcolm S. (1970). "Does differential adhesion govern self-assembly processes in histogenesis? Equilibrium configurations and the emergence of a hierarchy among populations of embryonic cells". J Exp Zool. 173 (4): 395–433. Bibcode:1970JEZ...173..395S. doi:10.1002/jez.1401730406. PMID   5429514 . Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  6. ↑ Steinberg, Malcolm S. (1975). "Adhesion-guided multicellular assembly: a commentary upon the postulates, real and imagined, of the differential adhesion hypothesis, with special attention to computer simulations of cell sorting". J Theor Biol. 55 (2): 431–43. Bibcode:1975JThBi..55..431S. doi:10.1016/s0022-5193(75)80091-9. PMID   1207170 . Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  7. ↑ Steinberg, Malcolm S.; Takeichi, Masatoshi (1994). "Experimental specification of cell sorting, tissue spreading, and specific spatial patterning by quantitative differences in cadherin expression". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 91 (1): 206–9. Bibcode:1994PNAS...91..206S. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.1.206 . PMC   42915 . PMID   8278366.
  8. ↑ Foty, Ramsey A.; Pfleger, Cathie M.; Forgacs, Gabor; Steinberg, Malcolm S. (1996). "Surface tensions of embryonic tissues predict their mutual envelopment behavior". Development. 122 (5): 1611–20. doi:10.1242/dev.122.5.1611. PMID   8625847 . Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  9. ↑ Davis, Grayson S.; Phillips, Herbert M.; Steinberg, Malcolm S. (1997). "Germ-layer surface tensions and "tissue affinities" in Rana pipiens gastrulae: quantitative measurements". Dev Biol. 192 (2): 630–44. doi: 10.1006/dbio.1997.8741 . PMID   9441694.
  10. ↑ Phillips, Herbert M.; Steinberg, Malcolm S. (1969). "Equilibrium measurements of embryonic chick cell adhesiveness. I. Shape equilibrium in centrifugal fields". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 64 (1): 1212–7. Bibcode:1969PNAS...64..121P. doi: 10.1073/pnas.64.1.121 . PMC   286135 . PMID   5262993.
  11. ↑ Phillips, Herbert M.; Steinberg, Malcolm S. (1978). "Embryonic tissues as elasticoviscous liquids. I. Rapid and slow shape changes in centrifuged cell aggregates". J Cell Sci. 30: 1–20. doi:10.1242/jcs.30.1.1. PMID   649680 . Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  12. ↑ Steinberg, Malcolm S.; Poole, Thomas J. (1981). "Strategies for specifying form and pattern: adhesion-guided multicellular assembly". Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 295 (1078): 451–60. Bibcode:1981RSPTB.295..451S. doi:10.1098/rstb.1981.0153. PMID   6117905 . Retrieved May 19, 2021.


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