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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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Autor principal: Oshima, Atsunori
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2017
Materias:
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.
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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
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