Plays a role in regulation of gastrulation, possibly by controlled reduction of cell adhesion which is necessary for optimal cell motility. At the beginning of gastrulation, expressed in deep cells of the presumptive mesoderm. At later gastrulation stages, expressed at the interface between already involuted and preinvoluted mesoderm. At late neurula and tailbud stages, expressed in the deep mass of cells lying ventrally and laterally to the closed blastopore. Expression is first detected after midblastula transition, reaches its maximum at stages 12-15 and continues to be expressed until at least stage 27. Belongs to the camello family.