Protocadherin alpha-12 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PCDHA12gene.[1][2]
This gene is a member of the protocadherin alpha gene cluster, one of three related gene clusters tandemly linked on chromosome 5 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.[2]
References
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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. PMID10835267.
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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. PMID15372022.
Otsuki T, Ota T, Nishikawa T, et al. (2007). "Signal sequence and keyword trap in silico for selection of full-length human cDNAs encoding secretion or membrane proteins from oligo-capped cDNA libraries". DNA Res. 12 (2): 117–26. doi:10.1093/dnares/12.2.117. PMID16303743.