Cldn11 - claudin 11

This gene encodes a member of the claudin family. Claudins are integral membrane proteins and components of tight junction strands. Tight junction strands serve as a physical barrier to prevent solutes and water from passing freely through the paracellular space between epithelial or endothelial cell sheets, and also play critical roles in maintaining cell polarity and signal transductions. The protein encoded by this gene is a major component of CNS (central nervous system) myelin and plays an important role in regulating proliferation and migration of oligodendrocytes. The basal cell tight junctions in stria vascularis are primarily composed of this protein, and the gene-null mice suffer severe deafness. This protein is also an obligatory protein for tight junction formation and barrier integrity in the testis and the gene deficiency results in loss of the Sertoli cell epithelial phenotype in the testis. [provided by RefSeq, Aug 2010]