PCDHGC3 explained

Protocadherin gamma-C3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the PCDHGC3 gene.^{[1] [2] [3]}

This gene is a member of the protocadherin gamma gene cluster, one of three related clusters tandemly linked on chromosome five. These gene clusters have an immunoglobulin-like organization, suggesting that a novel mechanism may be involved in their regulation and expression. The gamma gene cluster includes 22 genes divided into 3 subfamilies. Subfamily A contains 12 genes, subfamily B contains 7 genes and 2 pseudogenes, and the more distantly related subfamily C contains 3 genes. The tandem array of 22 large, variable region exons are followed by a constant region, containing 3 exons shared by all genes in the cluster. Each variable region exon encodes the extracellular region, which includes 6 cadherin ectodomains and a transmembrane region. The constant region exons encode the common cytoplasmic region. These neural cadherin-like cell 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.

Further reading

• Yagi T, Takeichi M . Cadherin superfamily genes: functions, genomic organization, and neurologic diversity . Genes Dev. . 14 . 10 . 1169–80 . 2000 . 10817752 . 10.1101/gad.14.10.1169. 44844497 . free .
• Nollet F, Kools P, van Roy F . Phylogenetic analysis of the cadherin superfamily allows identification of six major subfamilies besides several solitary members . J. Mol. Biol. . 299 . 3 . 551–72 . 2000 . 10835267 . 10.1006/jmbi.2000.3777 .
• Obata S . Protocadherin Pcdh2 shows properties similar to, but distinct from, those of classical cadherins . J. Cell Sci. . 108 . 12. 3765–73 . 1997 . 8719883 . vanc. Sago H . Mori N . 3 . Rochelle . JM . Seldin . MF . Davidson . M . St John . T . Taketani . S . Suzuki . ST . 10.1242/jcs.108.12.3765 .
• Obata S . A common protocadherin tail: multiple protocadherins share the same sequence in their cytoplasmic domains and are expressed in different regions of brain . Cell Adhes. Commun. . 6 . 4 . 323–33 . 1999 . 9865466 . 10.3109/15419069809010791 . vanc. Sago H . Mori N . 3 . Davidson . M. . John . T. St. . Suzuki . S. T. . free .
• Wu Q, Maniatis T . A striking organization of a large family of human neural cadherin-like cell adhesion genes . Cell . 97 . 6 . 779–90 . 1999 . 10380929 . 10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80789-8 . 6014717 . free .
• Wu Q, Maniatis T . Large exons encoding multiple ectodomains are a characteristic feature of protocadherin genes . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 97 . 7 . 3124–9 . 2000 . 10716726 . 10.1073/pnas.060027397 . 16203 . 2000PNAS...97.3124W . free .
• Wu Q . Comparative DNA Sequence Analysis of Mouse and Human Protocadherin Gene Clusters . Genome Res. . 11 . 3 . 389–404 . 2001 . 11230163 . 10.1101/gr.167301 . 311048 . vanc. Zhang T . Cheng JF . 3 . Kim . Y . Grimwood . J . Schmutz . J . Dickson . M . Noonan . JP . Zhang . MQ .
• Strausberg RL . Generation and initial analysis of more than 15,000 full-length human and mouse cDNA sequences . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 99 . 26 . 16899–903 . 2003 . 12477932 . 10.1073/pnas.242603899 . 139241 . vanc. Feingold EA . Grouse LH . 3 . Derge . JG . Klausner . RD . Collins . FS . Wagner . L . Shenmen . CM . Schuler . GD . 2002PNAS...9916899M . free .
• Gerhard DS . The Status, Quality, and Expansion of the NIH Full-Length cDNA Project: The Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) . Genome Res. . 14 . 10B . 2121–7 . 2004 . 15489334 . 10.1101/gr.2596504 . 528928 . vanc. Wagner L . Feingold EA . 3 . Shenmen . CM . Grouse . LH . Schuler . G . Klein . SL . Old . S . Rasooly . R .
• Reiss K . Regulated ADAM10-dependent ectodomain shedding of gamma-protocadherin C3 modulates cell-cell adhesion . J. Biol. Chem. . 281 . 31 . 21735–44 . 2006 . 16751190 . 10.1074/jbc.M602663200 . vanc. Maretzky T . Haas IG . 3 . Schulte . M . Ludwig . A . Frank . M . Saftig . P . 38025891 . free.

Notes and References

1. Lynch ED, Lee MK, Morrow JE, Welcsh PL, Leon PE, King MC . Nonsyndromic deafness DFNA1 associated with mutation of a human homolog of the Drosophila gene diaphanous . Science . 278 . 5341 . 1315–8 . Dec 1997 . 9360932 . 10.1126/science.278.5341.1315 . 1997Sci...278.1315L . 43492826 .
2. Sano K, Tanihara H, Heimark RL, Obata S, Davidson M, St John T, Taketani S, Suzuki S . Protocadherins: a large family of cadherin-related molecules in central nervous system . EMBO J . 12 . 6 . 2249–56 . Jul 1993 . 8508762 . 413453 . 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1993.tb05878.x.
3. Web site: Entrez Gene: PCDHGC3 protocadherin gamma subfamily C, 3.