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First published online March 31, 2005
Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 1415-1419 (2005)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2005
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01547

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Review Article

Evolution of gap junction proteins – the pannexin alternative

Yuri V. Panchin

Institute of Problems of Information Transmission, Russian Academy of Science127994 Moscow, and A.N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Moscow State University, Russia

(e-mail: ypanchin{at}yahoo.com)

Accepted 7 February 2005

Gap junctions provide one of the most common forms of intercellular communication. They are composed of membrane proteins that form a channel that is permeable to ions and small molecules, connecting the cytoplasm of adjacent cells. Gap junctions serve similar functions in all multicellular animals (Metazoa). Two unrelated protein families are involved in this function; connexins, which are found only in chordates, and pannexins, which are ubiquitous and present in both chordate and invertebrate genomes. The involvement of mammalian pannexins to gap junction formation was recently confirmed. Now it is necessary to consider the role of pannexins as an alternative to connexins in vertebrate intercellular communication.

Key words: connexin, pannexin, gap junction, innexin, OPU

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