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Structure of an innexin gap junction channel and cryo-EM sample preparation
Gap junction channels are essential for mediating intercellular communication in most multicellular organisms. Two gene families encode gap junction channels, innexin and connexin. Although the sequence similarity between these two families based on bioinformatics is not conclusively determined, the...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Oxford University Press
2017
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6084585/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29036409 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jmicro/dfx035 |
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author | Oshima, Atsunori |
author_facet | Oshima, Atsunori |
author_sort | Oshima, Atsunori |
collection | PubMed |
description | Gap junction channels are essential for mediating intercellular communication in most multicellular organisms. Two gene families encode gap junction channels, innexin and connexin. Although the sequence similarity between these two families based on bioinformatics is not conclusively determined, the gap junction channels encoded by these two gene families are structurally and functionally analogous. We recently reported an atomic structure of an invertebrate innexin gap junction channel using single-particle cryo-electron microscopy. Our findings revealed that connexin and innexin families share several structural properties with regard to their monomeric and oligomeric structures, while simultaneously suggesting a diversity of gap junction channels in nature. This review summarizes cutting-edge progress toward determining an innexin gap junction channel structure, as well as essential tips for preparing cryo-electron microscopy samples for high-resolution structural analysis of an innexin gap junction channel. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6084585 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | Oxford University Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-60845852018-08-14 Structure of an innexin gap junction channel and cryo-EM sample preparation Oshima, Atsunori Microscopy (Oxf) Review Gap junction channels are essential for mediating intercellular communication in most multicellular organisms. Two gene families encode gap junction channels, innexin and connexin. Although the sequence similarity between these two families based on bioinformatics is not conclusively determined, the gap junction channels encoded by these two gene families are structurally and functionally analogous. We recently reported an atomic structure of an invertebrate innexin gap junction channel using single-particle cryo-electron microscopy. Our findings revealed that connexin and innexin families share several structural properties with regard to their monomeric and oligomeric structures, while simultaneously suggesting a diversity of gap junction channels in nature. This review summarizes cutting-edge progress toward determining an innexin gap junction channel structure, as well as essential tips for preparing cryo-electron microscopy samples for high-resolution structural analysis of an innexin gap junction channel. Oxford University Press 2017-12 2017-09-21 /pmc/articles/PMC6084585/ /pubmed/29036409 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jmicro/dfx035 Text en © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Japanese Society of Microscopy. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Review Oshima, Atsunori Structure of an innexin gap junction channel and cryo-EM sample preparation |
title | Structure of an innexin gap junction channel and cryo-EM sample preparation |
title_full | Structure of an innexin gap junction channel and cryo-EM sample preparation |
title_fullStr | Structure of an innexin gap junction channel and cryo-EM sample preparation |
title_full_unstemmed | Structure of an innexin gap junction channel and cryo-EM sample preparation |
title_short | Structure of an innexin gap junction channel and cryo-EM sample preparation |
title_sort | structure of an innexin gap junction channel and cryo-em sample preparation |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6084585/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29036409 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jmicro/dfx035 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT oshimaatsunori structureofaninnexingapjunctionchannelandcryoemsamplepreparation |