ISOLATION OF A XENOPUS-LAEVIS GENOMIC CLONE REPRESENTING A NOVEL N-CADHERIN RELATED GENE

We have isolated a Xenopus laevis genomic sequence distinct from, but sharing high sequence similarity with N-cadherin. We present evidence that the gene represented by this sequence, named XNcad3, resides at a separate locus to the two previously isolated N-cadherin clones from this species. Extensive analysis could detect no expression of XNcad3 in embryonic or adult tissues. It seems likely that XNcad3 represents a non-expressed pseudogene, or perhaps a novel cadherin with a restric ted expression pattern.