Cadherin

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Contents

Function

Cadherins (CDH) are calcium-dependent adhesion proteins. They contain extracellular CDH repeats (EC1-EC5) which bind calcium ions. They are encoded by numerous genes numbered CDH1-CDH23. Some names of CDH indicate their locations: E-CDH (epithelial tissue), VE-CDH (vascular epithelial), T-CDH bound to membrane, N-CDH (neurons), P-CDH (placental), K-CDH (kidney). The CDH superfamily contains:

  • Protocadhedrins (Prot-CDH) which are similar to CDH but are unique in their cytoplasmic domains. They are found mainly in the brain at cell-cell contacts.[1]
  • Desmogleins (Des-CDH) and desmocollin are CDH found in desmosomes.


Structural highlights

The adhesive binding of CDH arises from the exchange of β strand of one CDH with the strand of CDH of a neighboring cell termed strand swap. The strand swapping is enhanced by 2 Trp residues docking into the hydrophobic pocket of the neighboring CDH molecule. [2]

3D Structures of Cadherin

Cadherin 3D structures


Mouse cadherin-11 EC1 dimer (PDB code 2a4c)

Drag the structure with the mouse to rotate

References

  1. ↑ Angst BD, Marcozzi C, Magee AI. The cadherin superfamily: diversity in form and function. J Cell Sci. 2001 Feb;114(Pt 4):629-41. PMID:11171368
  2. ↑ Patel SD, Ciatto C, Chen CP, Bahna F, Rajebhosale M, Arkus N, Schieren I, Jessell TM, Honig B, Price SR, Shapiro L. Type II cadherin ectodomain structures: implications for classical cadherin specificity. Cell. 2006 Mar 24;124(6):1255-68. PMID:16564015 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2005.12.046

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Michal Harel, Alexander Berchansky

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