Arginylation-dependent regulation of a proteolytic product of talin is essential for cell–cell adhesion

A proteolytic fragment of talin is regulated by arginylation and promotes cadherin-dependent cell–cell adhesion.

Talin is a large scaffolding molecule that plays a major role in integrin-dependent cell–matrix adhesion. A role for talin in cell–cell attachment through cadherin has never been demonstrated, however. Here, we identify a novel calpain-dependent proteolytic cleavage of talin that results in the release of a 70-kD C-terminal fragment, which serves as a substrate of posttranslational arginylation. The intracellular levels of this fragment closely correlated with the formation of cell–cell adhesions, and this fragment localized to cadherin-containing cell–cell contacts. Moreover, reintroduction of this fragment rescued the cell–cell adhesion defects in arginyltransferase (Ate1) knockout cells, which normally have a very low level of this fragment. Arginylation of this fragment further enhanced its ability to rescue cell–cell adhesion formation. In addition, arginylation facilitated its turnover, suggesting a dual role of arginylation in its intracellular regulation. Thus, our work identifies a novel proteolytic product of talin that is regulated by arginylation and a new role of talin in cadherin-dependent cell–cell adhesion.