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Gap Junction Morphology and Dynamics in Situ

  • Chapter
Connexins

Abstract

Gap junctions serve important functions in direct intercellular communication in almost all vertebrate cell types. Cells dynamically modulate gap junctional communication by regulating the synthesis, transport, gating, and turnover of the constituent junctional channels. Since the discovery of gap junctions by electron microscopic techniques, much insight has been gained about their molecular composition and regulation. The term gap junction refers not only to the dodecameric connexin channels, but also to the two plasma membranes that they span. The plaques formed by clustered connexin channels have various packing arrangements that may be related to functionality or interaction with cytosolic binding partner proteins. The lipid composition within plaques contains a relatively high percentage of cholesterol, which confers rigidity on the structure and decreased lateral mobility to the intercellular channels. This is not the case for connexin hemichannels in nonjunctional membranes, which actively traffic laterally within the plasma membrane to plaques in cell–cell apposition areas. Moreover, connexin-interacting proteins may contribute to regulation of how connexin channels pack in gap junctions. These partners are part of the “nexus”, that is, a specialized and integrated area of the cell membrane involved in intercellular communication.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. John Rash for generously providing the unpublished micrographs in Fig. 10.2 and for valuable discussions on channel packing. We also thank Tom Deerinck for supplying the image for Fig. 10.4. Support was contributed by National Science Foundation (NSF) grant MCB0543934, GM072881, and GM065937 (all to GES). Some of the work included here was conducted at the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at San Diego, which is supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant RR04050 awarded to Dr. Mark Ellisman.

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  1. National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, 1070 Basic Science Building, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0608, US

    Gina E. Sosinsky

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  1. Gina E. Sosinsky
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  2. Guido M. Gaietta
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  3. Ben N.G. Giepmans
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  1. New Jersey Medical School UMDNJ, Newark, NJ, USA

    Andrew L. Harris  & Darren Locke  & 

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Sosinsky, G.E., Gaietta, G.M., Giepmans, B.N. (2009). Gap Junction Morphology and Dynamics in Situ. In: Harris, A.L., Locke, D. (eds) Connexins. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-489-6_10

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