protein_function: Binding to cells via a high affinity receptor, lamininis thought to mediate the attachment, migration and organizationof cells into tissues during embryonic development by interactingwith other extracellular matrix components.
Laminin is a large basement membrane glycoprotein composed of three subunits designated the A, B1, and B2. Laminin has diverse biological functions, which include stimulating epithelial cell growth and differentiation. The nucleotide sequence of human laminin A chain has an open reading frame encoding 3075-amino acids. The human laminin A chain is at locus 18p11.3. The nucleotide sequence of the human laminin B1 reveals a 5358-base pair open reading frame that potentially codes for 1786 amino acids, including 20 amino acids of a presumptive signal peptide. The gene for the human laminin-B1 chain has been localized to chromosome 7, band q31. The B2 chain consists of six distinct domains, including two domains with alpha-helical, coiled-coil structures, two domains with cysteine-rich homologous repeats, and two globular domains. The amino acid sequences of the B2 and B1 chains demonstrate considerable homology. The human laminin B2 chain gene maps to the long arm of chromosome 1 in the band q31.
