該基因編碼鈣粘蛋白超家族的ii型經典鈣粘蛋白。該基因的選擇性剪接導致多個轉錄變體。這些變體中至少有一個編碼蛋白前體，該蛋白經蛋白質水解處理后生成成熟的鈣粘蛋白。這些完整的膜蛋白介導鈣依賴性細胞粘附，由一個大的n端胞外結構域、一個單一的跨膜結構域和一個小的高度保守的c端胞質結構域組成。i i型（非典型）鈣粘蛋白的定義是基于其缺乏一種特定于i型鈣粘蛋白的組氨酸-丙氨酸-纈氨酸（hav）細胞粘附識別序列。這種特殊的鈣粘蛋白似乎在大腦中有特異性的表達，其表達的時間模式將與神經元發育的關鍵時期的作用相一致，特別是在突觸形成期間[由RefSeq提供，2015年11月]
This gene encodes a type II classical cadherin of the cadherin superfamily. Alternative splicing of this gene results in multiple transcript variants. At least one of these variants encodes a preproprotein that is proteolytically processed to generate the mature cadherin protein. These integral membrane proteins mediate calcium-dependent cell-cell adhesion and 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 histidine-alanine-valine (HAV) cell adhesion recognition sequence specific to type I cadherins. This particular cadherin appears to be expressed specifically in the brain and its temporal pattern of expression would be consistent with a role during a critical period of neuronal development, perhaps specifically during synaptogenesis. [provided by RefSeq, Nov 2015]