Interaction between connexin35 and zonula occludens-1 and its potential role in the regulation of electrical synapses.

ABSTRACT: Although regulation of chemical transmission is known to involve the interaction of receptors with scaffold proteins, little is known about the existence of protein-protein interactions in regulating gap junction-mediated electrical synapses. The scaffold protein zonula-occludens-1 (ZO-1), a member of the MAGUK family of proteins, was reported to interact with several connexins (Cxs). We show here that ZO-1 extensively colocalizes with Cx35 at identifiable "mixed" (electrical and chemical) contacts on goldfish Mauthner cells, a model synapse for the study of vertebrate electrical transmission where it is possible to correlate physiological properties with molecular composition. Further, our analysis indicates that these proteins directly interact at goldfish electrical synapses. In contras

SUBMITTER: Flores CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2527948 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature