| Modification Notes |
The ADAM (a disintegrin and metalloprotease) protein family, which includes over 30 membrane-anchored, glycosylated, Zn2+ dependent proteases, plays a role in cell-cell and cell-matrix interface related processes, including fertilization, muscle fusion, secretion of TNFå (tumor necrosis factor å), and modulation of the neurogenic function of Notch and Delta (1-3). The ADAM proteins possess a signal-domain, a pro-domain, a metalloprotease domain, a disintegrin domain (Integrin ligand), a cysteine-rich region, an epidermal growth factor-like domain, a transmembrane domain and a cytoplasmic tail (1-3). ADAMs are expressed in a wide range of mammalian tissues and several are abundantly expressed in the male reproductive tract (3). Both ADAM29 and ADAM30 show testis-specific expression (4,5). The genes encoding human ADAM29 and ADAM30 map to chromosomes 4q34.2 and 1p11-13, respectively, and encode multiple isoforms of each protein (4,5). |