α-Catenin colocalizes with F-actin. (A) RT-PCR analyses show that MEF and MDCK cells (used later in this study, see Fig. 5) express almost exclusively αE-catenin and not αN-catenin. (B) Immunostaining for α-catenin in vinculin^−/− cells and α-actinin KD MEFs shows that its recruitment to the cell edge is not impaired by the absence of either of these proteins. (C) Immunostaining for α-catenin (green) in MEFs fixed 4 h after plating on FN-coated glass shows colocalization with F-actin (magenta) on stress fibers (bottom zoom-in) as well as at the cell edge (top zoom-in). The brightness of the top rectangle in the zoomed-out image was enhanced for the purpose of clarity.