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.
