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Gap junctions [5] (communicating junction) Tight junctions (occluding junctions) Invertebrates have several other types of specific junctions, for example septate junctions (a type of occluding junction) [4] or the C. elegans apical junction. In multicellular plants, the structural functions of cell junctions are instead provided for by cell ...
This barrier is overcome by specialized junctions called plasmodesmata. They are similar to gap junctions, connecting the cytosol of adjacent cells. Small molecules (<1000 Da), such as ions, amino acids, and sugars, can diffuse freely through plasmodesmata. These small molecules include signaling molecule and transcription factors. The size of ...
There are two forms of plasmodesmata: primary plasmodesmata, which are formed during cell division, and secondary plasmodesmata, which can form between mature cells. [5] Similar structures, called gap junctions [6] and membrane nanotubes, interconnect animal cells [7] and stromules form between plastids in plant cells. [8]
When the membranes of two animal cells are close, they may form special types of cell junctions, which come in three broad types: occluding junctions (such as tight junctions and septate junctions), anchoring junctions (such as adherens junctions, desmosomes, focal adhesions, and hemidesmosomes), and communicating junctions (such as gap ...
Gap junctions were first described as close appositions as other tight junctions, but following electron microscopy studies in 1967, they were renamed gap junctions to distinguish them from tight junctions. [2] They bridge a 2-4 nm gap between cell membranes. [3] Gap junctions use protein complexes known as connexons to
Schematic of cell adhesion. Cell adhesion is the process by which cells interact and attach to neighbouring cells through specialised molecules of the cell surface. This process can occur either through direct contact between cell surfaces such as cell junctions or indirect interaction, where cells attach to surrounding extracellular matrix, a gel-like structure containing molecules released ...
Connexins are commonly named according to their molecular weights, e.g. Cx26 is the connexin protein of 26 kDa. A competing nomenclature is the gap junction protein system, where connexins are sorted by their α (GJA) and β (GJB) forms, with additional connexins grouped into the C, D and E groupings, followed by an identifying number, e.g. GJA1 corresponds to Cx43.
A gap junction modulator is a compound or agent that either facilitates or inhibits the transfer of small molecules between biological cells by regulating gap junctions. [1] Various physiological processes including cardiac , neural or auditory , depend on gap junctions to perform crucial regulatory roles, and the modulators themselves are the ...