This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing theresources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject andinvestigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source,and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed isfor the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator.The cadherins are a family of cell surface proteins that mediate adhesion between embryonic cells. Cadherins are expressed throughout neural development and are proposed to play important roles in establishing domains of selective adhesion that serve to regionalize the neural tissue and form specific neural circuits. Protocadherins are a newly identified subfamily of the cadherins, but whose functions in neural development are unknown. At least some protocadherins can function as cell adhesion molecules, and many are expressed in the nervous system. Thus, an important question is whether protocadherins function to mediate cell adhesion in the developing vertebrate nervous system, establishing regions of differential cell adhesion that serve to regionalize neural tissue. Our research involves an in depth analysis of one such protocadherin, chicken protocadherin 1 (cPcdh1), in the developing vertebrate nervous system. In the chick embryo, cPcdh1 is expressed in the embryonic nervous system, where it is restricted to developing motor neurons in the CNS and to coalescing neural crest cells in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG). This expression pattern suggests that cPcdh1 plays important roles in cell adhesion in the formation of the peripheral nervous system in vertebrates.
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