DCHS1 Background Information The cadherins are a family of Ca2+-dependent adhesion molecules that function to mediate cell-cell binding critical to the maintenance of structure and morphogenesis. Cadherins each contain a large extracellular domain at the N-terminus, which is characterized by a series of five homologous repeats, the most distal of which is thought to be responsible for binding specificity. DCHS1 (dachsous 1), also known as CDH19, CDH25, FIB1, KIAA1773 or PCDH16, is a 3,298 amino acid single-pass type I membrane protein that contains 27 cadherin domains and belongs to the cadherin superfamily. Expressed specifically in fibroblasts, DCHS1 functions as a Ca2+-dependent cell-cell (specifically fibroblast-fibroblast) adhesion protein that may be involved in wound healing. The gene encoding DCHS1 maps to human chromosome 11, which houses over 1,400 genes and comprises nearly 4% of the human genome.
