Protocadherin alpha 1
Protocadherin alpha-1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PCDHA1 gene.[3][4]
This gene is a member of the protocadherin alpha gene cluster, one of three related gene clusters tandemly linked on chromosome five that demonstrate an unusual genomic organization similar to that of B-cell and T-cell receptor gene clusters. The alpha gene cluster is composed of 15 cadherin superfamily genes related to the mouse CNR genes and consists of 13 highly similar and 2 more distantly related coding sequences. The tandem array of 15 N-terminal exons, or variable exons, are followed by downstream C-terminal exons, or constant exons, which are shared by all genes in the cluster. The large, uninterrupted N-terminal exons each encode six cadherin ectodomains while the C-terminal exons encode the cytoplasmic domain. These neural cadherin-like cell adhesion proteins are integral plasma membrane proteins that most likely play a critical role in the establishment and function of specific cell-cell connections in the brain. Alternative splicing has been observed and additional variants have been suggested but their full-length nature has yet to be determined.[4]
References
Further reading
- Nollet F, Kools P, van Roy F (2000). "Phylogenetic analysis of the cadherin superfamily allows identification of six major subfamilies besides several solitary members.". J. Mol. Biol. 299 (3): 551–72. doi:10.1006/jmbi.2000.3777. PMID 10835267.
- Yagi T, Takeichi M (2000). "Cadherin superfamily genes: functions, genomic organization, and neurologic diversity.". Genes Dev. 14 (10): 1169–80. doi:10.1101/gad.14.10.1169. PMID 10817752.
- Schmutz J, Martin J, Terry A, et al. (2004). "The DNA sequence and comparative analysis of human chromosome 5.". Nature. 431 (7006): 268–74. doi:10.1038/nature02919. PMID 15372022.
- Wu Q, Zhang T, Cheng JF, et al. (2001). "Comparative DNA sequence analysis of mouse and human protocadherin gene clusters.". Genome Res. 11 (3): 389–404. doi:10.1101/gr.167301. PMC 311048. PMID 11230163.
- Dias Neto E, Correa RG, Verjovski-Almeida S, et al. (2000). "Shotgun sequencing of the human transcriptome with ORF expressed sequence tags.". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 97 (7): 3491–6. doi:10.1073/pnas.97.7.3491. PMC 16267. PMID 10737800.
- Wu Q, Maniatis T (2000). "Large exons encoding multiple ectodomains are a characteristic feature of protocadherin genes.". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 97 (7): 3124–9. doi:10.1073/pnas.060027397. PMC 16203. PMID 10716726.
- Sugino H, Hamada S, Yasuda R, et al. (2000). "Genomic organization of the family of CNR cadherin genes in mice and humans.". Genomics. 63 (1): 75–87. doi:10.1006/geno.1999.6066. PMID 10662547.