Innexins: members of an evolutionarily conserved family of gap-junction proteins
Autor: | Pauline Phelan |
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Rok vydání: | 2005 |
Předmět: |
Gap junction
Molecular Sequence Data Biophysics Connexin Nerve Tissue Proteins Innexin Biochemistry Connexins Ion Channels Intercellular channel 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Molecular evolution Gene family Animals Drosophila Proteins Humans Amino Acid Sequence Caenorhabditis elegans Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins 030304 developmental biology 0303 health sciences biology Gap Junctions Membrane Proteins Cell Biology Pannexin biology.organism_classification Biological Evolution Cell biology Drosophila melanogaster Phenotype Evolutionary biology Mutation Drosophila Sequence Alignment 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Function (biology) |
Zdroj: | Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes. 1711(2):225-245 |
ISSN: | 0005-2736 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.bbamem.2004.10.004 |
Popis: | Gap junctions are clusters of intercellular channels that provide cells, in all metazoan organisms, with a means of communicating directly with their neighbours. Surprisingly, two gene families have evolved to fulfil this fundamental, and highly conserved, function. In vertebrates, gap junctions are assembled from a large family of connexin proteins. Innexins were originally characterized as the structural components of gap junctions in Drosophila, an arthropod, and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Since then, innexin homologues have been identified in representatives of the other major invertebrate phyla and in insect-associated viruses. Intriguingly, functional innexin homologues have also been found in vertebrate genomes. These studies have informed our understanding of the molecular evolution of gap junctions and have greatly expanded the numbers of model systems available for functional studies. Genetic manipulation of innexin function in relatively simple cellular systems should speed progress not only in defining the importance of gap junctions in a variety of biological processes but also in elucidating the mechanisms by which they act. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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