Mouse/Rat NCAM-1/CD56 Antibody

NCAM-1 (Neural adhesion molecule-1; also CD56) is a 120 -190 kDa glycoprotein member of the Ig Superfamily. It is expressed on multiple cell types, both in the embryo and adult. Here, it serves as both an adhesion molecule and a receptor for multiple ligands, including as FGFR, PDGF, GDNF and agrin. On the cell surface, it is a cis-oriented homodimer that can form homodimers in-trans with other cis-homodimers. In the embryo, NCAM-1 is polysialylated (PolySia), and shows a MW of 200-220 kDa in SDS-Page. This polysialylation reduces the ability of NCAM-1 to dimerize. Mature mouse NCAM-1 is a 1096 amino acid (aa) type I transmembrane (TM) protein (aa 20-1115). It possesses a 692 aa extracellular region (aa 20-711) and a 386 aa cytoplasmic domain. The extracellular region contains five consecutive C2-type Ig-like domains (aa 20-492) followed by two FN type-III domains (aa 497-692). Multiple splice variants exist. There is a 140 kDa TM variant that shows a deletion of aa 810-1076, and a 120 kDa variant that is GPI-linked and shows a 24 aa substitution for aa 702-1115. A third potential variant contains a five aa substitution for aa 601-1115. Over aa 20-711, mouse NCAM-1 shares 99% and 95% aa identity with rat and human NCAM-1, respectively.