Gap junctions articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article
  25 August 2021 | Open Access

  Excitatory synapses and gap junctions cooperate to improve Pv neuronal burst firing and cortical social cognition in Shank2-mutant mice

  How NMDAR and GABA neuronal dysfunctions result in impaired social behaviour is unclear. Here, the authors show that NMDARs and gap junctions in cortical PV interneurons modulate burst firing, affecting social behaviour.

  • Eunee Lee
  • , Seungjoon Lee
  •  & Eunjoon Kim

• Article
  10 July 2020 | Open Access

  NMDAR-mediated modulation of gap junction circuit regulates olfactory learning in C. elegans

  Neural plasticity underlies learning and is regulated by modulation of gap junctions. Here, the authors show that NMDAR- and CaMKII-mediated cell autonomous downregulation of gap junction molecules in a circuit of interneurons facilitates olfactory learning affecting behavior in C. elegans.

  • Myung-Kyu Choi
  • , He Liu
  •  & Yun Zhang

• Article
  11 April 2018 | Open Access

  Synaptically silent sensory hair cells in zebrafish are recruited after damage

  Hair cells of the inner ear are mechanosensors that detect sound, and synapse onto afferent neurons. Here, the authors used calcium imaging to find that not all hair cells are synaptically engaged, but after damage these silent cells are synaptically engaged.

  • Qiuxiang Zhang
  • , Suna Li
  •  & Katie S. Kindt

• Article
  11 December 2017 | Open Access

  Electrical synapses convey orientation selectivity in the mouse retina

  Visual input received by photoreceptors is relayed to retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), which have selectivity for inputs of certain orientations. Here, the authors show that gap junction-mediated input onto one type of RGC contributes to its orientation selectivity.

  • Amurta Nath
  •  & Gregory W. Schwartz

• Article
  01 December 2016 | Open Access

  Atomic structure of the innexin-6 gap junction channel determined by cryo-EM

  Gap junctions have critical roles in maintaining homeostasis in multicellular organisms. Here the authors present cryo-EM structures of the C. elegansinnexin-6 gap junction channel, revealing high structural similarity to human connexin 26 despite a different oligomeric number and lack of sequence similarity.

  • Atsunori Oshima
  • , Kazutoshi Tani
  •  & Yoshinori Fujiyoshi

• Article
  02 June 2016 | Open Access

  LRP6 acts as a scaffold protein in cardiac gap junction assembly

  LRP6 is known for its role as a Wnt co-receptor essential for the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Here, Li et al. show that LRP6 exerts a Wnt-independent scaffold function and regulates connexin 43 gap junction formation and coupling of cardiomyocytes in mouse hearts.

  • Jun Li
  • , Changming Li
  •  & Yi-Han Chen

• Article | 19 August 2014

  Molecular determinants of magnesium-dependent synaptic plasticity at electrical synapses formed by connexin36

  Electrical synaptic transmission is known to be modulated by intracellular magnesium. Here, Palacios-Prado et al.show that electrical synapses formed by connexin36 in the thalamic reticular nucleus are bidirectionally modulated by changes in magnesium concentration via pore-lining sensitive domains.

  • Nicolás Palacios-Prado
  • , Sandrine Chapuis
  •  & Feliksas F. Bukauskas

• Article | 30 April 2013

  Active cochlear amplification is dependent on supporting cell gap junctions

  Outer hair cell electromotility contributes to the cochlear amplifier during hearing. Here the authors find that targeted-deletion of the gap junction protein connexin 26 results in reduced electromotility of outer hair cells, reduced cochlear amplification and hearing loss in mice.

  • Yan Zhu
  • , Chun Liang
  •  & Hong-Bo Zhao