Multifunctional strands in tight junctions

Tight junctions are one mode of cell-cell adhesion in epithelial and endoth elial cellular sheets. They act as a primary barrier to the diffusion of so lutes through the intercellular space, create a boundary between the apical and the basolateral plasma membrane domains, and recruit various cytoskele tal as well as signalling molecules at their cytoplasmic surface. New insig hts into the molecular architecture of tight junctions allow us to now disc uss the structure and functions of this unique cell-cell adhesion apparatus in molecular terms.