α-catenin: at the junction of intercellular adhesion and actin dynamics

α-catenin has often been considered to be a non-regulatory intercellular adhesion protein, in contrast to β-catenin, which has well-documented dual roles in cell–cell adhesion and signal transduction. Recently, however, α-catenin has been found to be important not only in connecting the E-cadherin–β-catenin complex to the actin cytoskeleton, but also in coordinating actin dynamics and inversely correlating cell adhesion with proliferation. As the number of α-catenin-interacting partners increases, intriguing new connections imply even more complex regulatory functions for this protein.