N-cadherin consists of an amino-terminal external domain with five tandem repeats, a single transmembrane segment, and a cytoplasmic carboxy-terminal domain of approximately 150 amino acids. The intracellular domain of N-Cadherin interacts with a group of proteins called catenins that are essential for cadherin-mediated cell adhesion. It is suggested that N-cadherin proteins align in a form of “zipper” when involved in cell adhesion. Cadherins on one cell surface form a series of rigid dimers that attach to equivalent dimers on the opposing cells and lateral motion of these complexes allows the cell junction site to “zip up”
