Many adhesion GPCRs undergo proteolytic events posttranslationally at highly conserved Cys-rich motifs known as GPCR proteolysis sites (GPS), located next to the first transmembrane region. This site is called the HL-S(T) site. Once this protein is cleaved, the pieces are expressed at the cell surface as a heterodimer. This cleavage is thought to happen from within the protein itself, through the conserved GAIN domain. This process seems to be similar to those found in other auto-proteolytic proteins such as the Ntn hydrolases and hedgehog proteins.