Mjg. Bussemakers et al., THE GENES FOR THE CALCIUM-DEPENDENT CELL-ADHESION MOLECULES P-CADHERIN AND E-CADHERIN ARE TANDEMLY ARRANGED IN THE HUMAN GENOME, Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 203(2), 1994, pp. 1291-1294
Cadherins constitute a gene family of Ca2+-dependent cell-cell adhesio
n molecules involved in the morphogenesis and maintenance of tissue in
tegrity. E- and P-cadherin are members of the cadherin family that are
both expressed in epithelial tissues. Here we present the localizatio
n of the human P-cadherin gene at 32 kb upstream of the human E-cadher
in gene, mapping it to chromosome 16q22.1. Tandem arrangement of two c
ell-cell adhesion molecules from the cadherin family has also been rep
orted in chicken. This is the first evidence for the direct linkage of
two cadherins in mammals. The evolutionary conservation of the tandem
arrangement of two genes encoding cell adhesion molecules suggests th
at the close proximity of the genes may be important for the regulatio
n of the genes. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.