Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Trends Cell Biol. 2016 Dec;26(12):944-955. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2016.06.003. Epub 2016 Jun 21.
Connexins and pannexins are two families of large-pore channel forming proteins that are capable of passing small signaling molecules. While connexins serve the seminal task of direct gap junctional intercellular communication, pannexins are far less understood but function primarily as single membrane channels in autocrine and paracrine signaling. Advancements in connexin and pannexin biology in recent years has revealed that in addition to well-described classical functions at the plasma membrane, exciting new evidence suggests that connexins and pannexins participate in alternative pathways involving multiple intracellular compartments. Here we briefly highlight classical functions of connexins and pannexins but focus our attention mostly on the transformative findings that suggest that these channel-forming proteins may serve roles far beyond our current understandings.
间隙连接蛋白和连接蛋白是两大孔道形成蛋白家族，能够传递小分子信号分子。虽然间隙连接蛋白承担着直接缝隙连接细胞间通讯的重要任务，但连接蛋白的功能却知之甚少，主要作为自分泌和旁分泌信号的单一膜通道发挥作用。近年来，间隙连接蛋白和连接蛋白生物学的进展表明，除了在质膜上描述良好的经典功能外，令人兴奋的新证据表明，连接蛋白和连接蛋白参与涉及多个细胞内隔室的替代途径。在这里，我们简要介绍间隙连接蛋白和连接蛋白的经典功能，但主要关注的是有变革性的发现，这些发现表明这些形成通道的蛋白质可能发挥的作用远超我们目前的理解。
