The cadherins are a superfamily of calcium-dependent transmembrane adhesion glycoproteins that are crucial for forming adherens junctions and are involved in cell adhesion [1]. The superfamily is divided into three families: Major cadherins (with five phylogenetically grouped subfamilies), protocadherins (clustered and non-clustered subfamilies), and cadherin related proteins (phylogenetically distanced from the other two families).

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1. Hartsock A, Nelson WJ. (2008) Adherens and tight junctions: structure, function and connections to the actin cytoskeleton. Biochim Biophys Acta, 1778 (3): 660-9. [PMID:17854762]