Complement Receptor 1 Like Protein (CR1L)

The C3b/C4b receptor (CR1) is important in immune complex processing. On phagocytic cells it promotes the adherence and sometimes the endocytosis of C3b- and C4b-coated particles. CR1 is composed largely of a tandemly repeated motif of approximately 60 amino acids, the short consensus repeat (SCR).

In the course of cloning genomic CR1 sequences, Hourcade et al. (1990) identified a related gene, CR1L. Analysis of subclones identified 10 exons encoding a signal peptide and SCR1 through SCR6 and SCR9, which are 91% homologous to the corresponding N-terminal regions of the CR1 protein. Hourcade et al. (1990) concluded that CR1L arose by a gene duplication event and has undergone mutation at the beginning of SCR1.