Cadherin 18 (CDH18)

CDH18 encodes a type II classical cadherin from the cadherin superfamily of integral membrane proteins that mediate calcium-dependent cell-cell adhesion. Mature cadherin proteins are composed of a large N-terminal extracellular domain, a single membrane-spanning domain, and a small, highly conserved C-terminal cytoplasmic domain. Type II (atypical) cadherins are defined based on their lack of a HAV cell adhesion recognition sequence specific to type I cadherins.

Comparison of the deduced 790-amino acid CDH18 sequence with the sequences of other cadherins revealed that CDH18 is more closely related to type 2 cadherins than to type 1 cadherins, with the N-terminal regions of CDH18 and CDH12 showing particularly high amino acid similarity.