About Protocadherin gamma
The protocadherin gamma gene cluster is one of three related clusters tandemly linked on chromosome five. The clusters have an immunoglobulin-like organization, suggesting that a novel mechanism may be involved in their regulation and expression. The gamma cluster includes 22 genes divided into 3 subfamilies, all part of the cadherin superfamily. Subfamily A contains 12 genes, subfamily B contains 7 genes and 2 pseudogenes, and the more distantly related subfamily C contains 3 genes. In addition, ORNT2 and TAF2F are included in the cluster due to their localization between protocadherin clusters beta and gamma on chromosome five. The protocadherin genes are organized in a tandem array of 22 large, variable region exons followed by a constant region, which contains 3 exons shared by all protocadherin genes in the cluster. Each variable region exon encodes an extracellular domain comprised of 6 cadherin ectodomains and a transmembrane region. The constant region exons encode a common cytoplasmic tail. These neural adhesion proteins most likely play a critical role in the establishment and function of specific cell-cell connections in the brain. Alternative splicing has been described for the gamma cluster genes. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]