Tight junctions represent one mode of cell-to-cell adhesion in epithelial or endothelial cell sheets, forming continuous seals around cells and serving as a physical barrier to prevent solutes and water from passing freely through the paracellular space. These junctions are comprised of sets of continuous networking strands in the outwardly facing cytoplasmic leaflet, with complementary grooves in the inwardly facing extracytoplasmic leaflet. The protein encoded by this gene, a member of the claudin family, is an integral membrane protein and a component of tight junction strands. The encoded protein also binds specifically to the WW domain of Yes-associated protein. Defects in this gene are the cause of an autosomal recessive form of nonsyndromic sensorineural deafness. Several transcript variants encoding the same protein have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq]