BackgroundInformation | Thenotchgenebelongstoafamilyofepidermalgrowthfactor(EGF)likehomeoticgenes,whichencodetransmembraneproteinswithavariablenumberofcysteine-richEGF-likerepeatsintheextracellularregion.Fournotchgeneshavebeendescribedinmammals,whichincludenotch-1.notch-2,notch-3,andnotch-4(Int-3),whichhavebeenimplicatedinthedifferentiationofthenervoussystemandotherstructures.TheEGF-likeproteinsDeltaandSerratehavebeenidentifiedasligandsofnotch-1.Maturenotchproteinsareheterodimericreceptorsderivedfromthecleavageofnotchpre-proteinsintoanextracellularsubunit(NEC)containingmultipleEGF-likerepeatsandatransmembranesubunitincludingintracellularregion(Ntm). |