Claudin 7 (CLDN7)

Claudins, such as CLDN7, are involved in the formation of tight junctions between epithelial cells. Tight junctions restrict lateral diffusion of lipids and membrane proteins, and thereby physically define the border between the apical and basolateral compartments of epithelial cells.

One transcript encodes a deduced 211-amino acid protein containing cytoplasmic N and C termini, 4 transmembrane segments, and 2 extracellular domains. The other transcript contains extra sequence that introduces a stop codon within the open reading frame, resulting in a deduced 158-amino acid protein containing 3 transmembrane segments and a truncated second extracellular domain.