Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Bead Aggregation Assays for the Characterization of Putative Cell Adhesion Molecules
Published on: October 17, 2014
Phylogenetic analysis of the cadherin superfamily
1Muscle Biochemistry Laboratory, Montreal Neurological Institute, PQ, Canada.
Abstract:
Cadherins are a multigene family of proteins which mediate homophilic calcium-dependent cell adhesion and are thought to play an important role in morphogenesis by mediating specific intercellular adhesion. Different lines of experimental evidence have recently indicated that the site responsible for mediating adhesive interactions is localized to the first extracellular domain of cadherin. Based upon an analysis of the sequence of this domain, I show that cadherins can be classified into three groups with distinct structural features. Furthermore, using this sequence information a phylogenetic tree relating the known cadherins was assembled. This is the first such tree to be published for the cadherins. One cadherin subtype, neural cadherin (N-cadherin), shows very little sequence divergence between species, whereas all other cadherin subtypes show more substantial divergence, suggesting that selective pressure upon this domain may be greater for N-cadherin than for other cadherins. Phylogenetic analysis also suggests that the gene duplications which established the main branches leading to the different cadherin subtypes occurred very early in their history. These duplications set the stage for the diversified superfamily we now observe.
Related Concept Videos
Protein Families
Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons
Structure of Cadherins
Catenins
Catenins in Cell Junctions
Catenins bind to cell adhesion molecules such as cadherins and link them to different cytoskeletal proteins depending on the type of cell junction. At the adherens...
Adherens Junctions
Adherens Junctions are Dynamic
The endothelial cells...
Cadherins in Tissue Organization
Cell Sorting During Development
Cell sorting plays an...

