1ncj
From Proteopedia
N-CADHERIN, TWO-DOMAIN FRAGMENT
Structural highlights
Function[CADH2_MOUSE] Cadherins are calcium-dependent cell adhesion proteins. They preferentially interact with themselves in a homophilic manner in connecting cells; cadherins may thus contribute to the sorting of heterogeneous cell types. CDH2 may be involved in neuronal recognition mechanism. In hippocampal neurons, may regulate dendritic spine density.[1] [2] Evolutionary Conservation Check, as determined by ConSurfDB. You may read the explanation of the method and the full data available from ConSurf. Publication Abstract from PubMedTo investigate the possible biological function of the lateral "strand dimer" observed in crystal structures of a D1 domain extracellular fragment from N-cadherin, we have undertaken site-directed mutagenesis studies of this molecule. Mutation of most residues important in the strand dimer interface abolish the ability of N-cadherin to mediate cell adhesion. Mutation of an analogous central residue (Trp-2) in E-cadherin also abrogates the adhesive capacity of that molecule. We also determined the crystal structure of a Ca2+-complexed two-domain fragment from N-cadherin. This structure, like its E-cadherin counterpart, does not adopt the strand dimer conformation. This suggests the possibility that classical cadherins might stably exist in both dimeric and monomeric forms. Data from several laboratories imply that lateral dimerization or clustering of cadherins may increase their adhesivity. We suggest the possibility that the strand dimer may play a role in this activation. Structure-function analysis of cell adhesion by neural (N-) cadherin.,Tamura K, Shan WS, Hendrickson WA, Colman DR, Shapiro L Neuron. 1998 Jun;20(6):1153-63. PMID:9655503[3] From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. See AlsoReferences
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