gap junction
Sign in to saveAlso known as nexus, zonula communicans, gap junction plaque, macula communicans, gap junction macula, gap junctions, GO:0005921, communicating junction
cell-cell junction comprised of innexins or connexins, two different families of channel-forming proteins. Other proteins may also be present.
Key facts
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- D017629
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- H1.00.01.1.02024
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Research
24,320 papers- Brain endothelial gap junction coupling enables rapid vasodilation propagation during neurovascular coupling.Cell · 2025
- Gap-junction-mediated cell-to-cell communication.Cell and tissue research · 2013
- Gap Junction Channels of Innexins and Connexins: Relations and Computational Perspectives.International journal of molecular sciences · 2019
- Gap junction gene and protein families: Connexins, innexins, and pannexins.Biochimica et biophysica acta. Biomembranes · 2018
- AAV-mediated base editing restores cochlear gap junction in GJB2 dominant-negative mutation-associated syndromic hearing loss model.JCI insight · 2025
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Wikidata facts
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- Gap junctions
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- purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GO_0005921
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Article
Gap junctions are membrane channels between adjacent cells that allow the direct exchange of cytoplasmic substances, such as small molecules, substrates, and metabolites. Gap junctions were first described as close appositions alongside tight junctions, but based on electron microscopy studies, they were later renamed gap junctions to distinguish them from tight junctions. They bridge a 2-4 nm gap between cell membranes.
Gap junctions use protein complexes known as connexons, composed of connexin proteins to connect one cell to another. Gap junction proteins include the more than 26 types of connexin, as well as at least 12 non-connexin components that make up the gap junction complex or nexus, including the tight junction protein ZO-1—a protein that holds membrane content together and adds structural clarity to a cell, sodium channels, and aquaporin.