Cadherin

E-cadherin is a type 1 membrane protein. It is a member of the large family of cadherins, calcium dependent cell adhesion proteins. These proteins are involved in many morphoregulatory processes including the establishment of tissue boundaries, tissue rearrangement, cell differentiation, and metastisis. Cadherins typically consist of a large extracellular domain containing DXD and DXNDN repeats responsible for calcium-dependent adhesion, a single pass transmembrane domain, and a highly conserved, short C-terminal cytoplasmic domain responsible for interacting with catenins. E-cadherins contain five extracellular calcium-binding domains, each of ~110 amino acids. The extracellular domain of E-cadherin tends to bind in a homophilic manner; however, heterophilic binding occurs under certain conditions. The binding of extracellular cadherin is the basis for cell-cell adhesion and tends to be prevalent at adherins junctions and is structurally associated with actin bundles. The disassembly of adherens junctions is dependent on the internalization of E-cadherin via vesicle transport into the cytoplasm. The N-cadherin/ Fc chimera has been shown to retain structural and functional properties of the cadherins. 

Cadherin Products

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