Multiple cadherin extracellular repeats mediate homophilic binding and adhesion

Abstract

The extracellular homophilic-binding domain of the cadherins consists of 5 cadherin repeats (EC1–EC5). Studies on cadherin specificity have implicated the NH2-terminal EC1 domain in the homophilic binding interaction, but the roles of the other extracellular cadherin (EC) domains have not been evaluated. We have undertaken a systematic analysis of the binding properties of the entire cadherin extracellular domain and the contributions of the other EC domains to homophilic binding