Cornulin is a member of the 'fused gene' family of proteins, which contain N-terminus EF-hand domains and multiple tandem peptide repeats. The encoded protein contains two EF-hand Ca2+ binding domains in its N-terminus and two glutamine- and threonine-rich 60 amino acid repeats in its C-terminus. This gene, also known as squamous epithelial heat shock protein 53, may play a role in the mucosal/epithelial immune response and epidermal differentiation.
The C1ORF10 cDNA encodes a deduced 490-amino acid protein with 1 transmembrane domain, an N-terminal EF-hand calcium-binding motif of about 90 amino acids that shares 25 to 35% identity to human S100 calcium-binding proteins, and a conserved consecutive repeat sequence of about 60 amino acids.