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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]
Cell junctions are also especially important in enabling communication between neighboring cells via specialized protein complexes called communicating (gap) junctions. Cell junctions are also important in reducing stress placed upon cells. In plants, similar communication channels are known as plasmodesmata, and in fungi they are called septal ...
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 ...
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
The variety of potential signaling combinations that results is enormous. A much studied example of gap junctions electrical signalling abilities is in the electrical synapses found on nerves. [19] [20] [21] In heart muscle gap junctions function to coordinate the beating of the heart. Adding even further to their versatility gap junctions can ...
Gap junctions are made of connexins in vertebrates and innexins in invertebrates. Electrical synapses are electrically conductive gap junctions between neurons . Gap junctions are critical for cardiac myocytes ; mice and humans deficient in a particular gap junction protein have severe heart development defects.
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 desmotubule is an endomembrane derived structure of the plasmodesmata that connects the endoplasmic reticulum of two adjacent plant cells. [1] [2] The desmotubule is not actually a tubule but a compact, cylindrical segment of the ER that is found within the larger tubule structure of the plasmodesmata pore. [3]