Structure of the human N-cadherin gene: YAC analysis and fine chromosomal mapping to 18q11.2.

The cadherins are a large family of cell adhesion molecules involved in calcium-dependent recognition and adhesion events. We have used YAC analysis to determine the structure of the human N-cadherin gene. An 850-kb YAC was isolated and the entire N-cadherin gene mapped to a 250-kb region spanning three putative CpG islands. A PCR and cosmid subcloning strategy was used to define the boundaries for the 16 exons that compose the gene. These were shown to be not only highly conserved between mouse and human N-cadherin genes, but also similar to other cadherins. The first and second introns of the gene are large, a property conserved between the mouse and human genes. In situ hybridization with YAC DNA refined the map position of N-cadherin to human chromosome 18q11.2.