Component of intercellular desmosome junctions. Involved in the interaction of plaque proteins and intermediate filaments mediating cell-cell adhesion. Expressed in epidermis, heart, brain, spleen, lung, liver skeletal muscle, kidney and testis. Expressed in embryo at 7 to 17 dpc. Expressed uniformly in all 12.5 dpc epithelia, gradually becoming confined to the basal cell layers during. 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. Palmitoylated by ZDHHC5 at the plasma membrane.