Abstract
Two cell adhesion molecules (CAMs), the neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM) and the neuron–glia cell adhesion molecule (Ng-CAM), have been shown to play crucial roles in intercellular interactions. The N-CAM and the Ng-CAM are critical for the formation and maintenance of neuronal contacts. In addition, the liver cell adhesion molecule (L-CAM) is expressed with N-CAM throughout development in a coordinate fashion, suggesting a general role for N-CAM and L-CAM in morphogenesis and histogenesis. N-CAM, Ng-CAM, and L-CAM are large cell surface glycoproteins that are subject to a variety of post-translational modifications, which may regulate their expression and activities. L-CAM appears as a single glycoprotein and, unlike N-CAM and Ng-CAM, both its structure and activity are dependent on calcium ions. A variety of data indicates that the NILE glycoprotein is the mammalian equivalent of Ng-CAM. N-CAM is distinguished by large amounts of polysialic acid on at least one of its four Asn-linked oligosaccharides and includes two polypeptides that are translated from two large messenger RNAs derived from a single gene.
Published Version
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