Catenins (alpha-, beta- and gamma- or plakoglobin) are cytoplasmic cadherin-associated proteins. Studies on cultured cells have suggested that both alpha-catenin and plakoglobin are important for the adhesive function of cadherins. alpha-catenin binds to both beta-catenin and plakoglobin and may link the cadherin/catenin complex to actin filaments. Separate domains of plakoglobin bind to cadherin and alpha-catenin, suggesting it may act as a bridge between these molecules. However, plakoglobin may have other activities: it is expressed in both desmosomal junctions in association with desmogleins and the cytoplasm in conjunction with APC, and previous work suggests it may act in a dorsal signalling pathway when overexpressed in Xenopus embryos. Here, we have studied the roles of alpha-catenin and plakoglobin directly, by depleting the maternal mRNAs coding for each of them in developing Xenopus embryos. We find that depletion of maternal alpha-catenin causes the loss of intercellular adhesion at the blastula stage, similar to that reported previously for EP cadherin. Depletion of plakoglobin results in a partial loss of adhesion, and a loss of embryonic shape, but does not affect dorsal signalling.