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 associate with arm neural isoform and participate in the transmission of developmental information. Experimental confirmation may be lacking for some isoforms. In the embryo, the protein first appears in the mesoderm at stage 9 and is present in the myoblasts and muscle fibers by stage 12 and stage 14, respectively. At stage 12 the protein is also located in the axons of the entire CNS, but not in the glial cells. In third instar larvae protein is expressed in the CNS neuropile, photoreceptor axons and precursors of adult muscles. 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.