Calponin 3, Acidic (CNN3)

CNN3 encodes a protein with a markedly acidic C terminus; the basic N-terminus is highly homologous to the N-terminus of a related gene, CNN1. Members of the CNN gene family all contain similar tandemly repeated motifs.

This encoded protein is associated with the cytoskeleton but is not involved in contraction.The 329-amino acid CNN3 has a predicted pI of 5.64; it contains a markedly acidic C terminus with a predicted pI of 3.51. The N termini of CNN3 and CNN1 are highly homologous and basic. CNN3 contains a motif that is tandemly repeated 3 times and is similar to the repeated motif present in CNN1 and CNN2. Northern blot analysis of human RNAs showed that CNN3 is expressed in both smooth muscle and nonmuscle tissues.