Genomic Organization of the Family of CNR Cadherin Genes in Mice and Humans

• Published in: Genomics (San Diego, Calif.) Calif.), 2000-01, Vol.63 (1), p.75-87
• Main Authors: Sugino, Hidehiko, Hamada, Shun, Yasuda, Rie, Tuji, Atushi, Matsuda, Yoichi, Fujita, Masami, Yagi, Takeshi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; cadherin-related neuronal receptors; Cadherins - genetics; Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal; Chromosome Mapping; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 5; Classical genetics, quantitative genetics, hybrids; Evolution, Molecular; Exons; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; Genome, Human; Human; Humans; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; Introns; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Molecular Sequence Data; Neuropeptides - genetics; Receptors, Cell Surface; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA Splicing; Sequence Alignment
• ISSN: 0888-7543; 1089-8646
• DOI: 10.1006/geno.1999.6066

The cadherin-related neuronal receptor (CNR) family is localized to the synaptic junction, and their cytoplasmic domains interact with Fyn-tyrosine kinase. Here, we describe the chromosomal locations and the orthologous genomic structures of CNR family members in mice and humans. In the genomic organization, distinct exons, each of which encodes the N-terminus of a different CNR (“variable region”), are clustered in a tandem array, and these exons are spliced to a common region composed of three exons (“constant region”). We also discovered three alternative versions of the transcripts; a single variable exon connects with three different C-terminal tails, comparable to class-switching in the immunoglobulin heavy chain. Thus the CNR family in the central nervous system has similarities to the immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor genes in the immune system.