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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 walls.
Adjacent epithelial cells are connected by adherens junctions on their lateral membranes. They are located just below tight junctions. Their function is to give shape and tension to cells and tissues and they are also the site of cell-cell signaling. Adherens junctions are made of cell adhesion molecules from the cadherin family. There are over ...
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 ...
TEM of rat kidney tissue shows a protein dense tight junction (three dark lines) at ~55,000x magnification.. Tight junctions provide endothelial and epithelial cells with barrier function, which can be further subdivided into protective barriers and functional barriers serving purposes such as material transport and maintenance of osmotic balance.
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.