Cadherins are calcium-dependent cell adhesion proteins. They preferentially interact with themselves in a homophilic manner in connecting cells; cadherins may thus contribute to the sorting of heterogeneous cell types. May act as a negative regulator of neural cell growth (By similarity). By contrast to classical cadherins, homodimerization in trans is not mediated by cadherin EC1 domain strand-swapping, but instead through a homophilic adhesive interface which joins two elongated EC1-EC2 domains through a region near their Ca2+-binding sites to form a tetrahedral, X-like shape. Three calcium ions are usually bound at the interface of each cadherin domain and rigidify the connections, imparting a strong curvature to the full-length ectodomain.