Mitochondrial Connexins and Mitochondrial Contact Sites with Gap Junction Structure.

Mitochondria contain connexins, a family of proteins that is known to form gap junction channels. Connexins are synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum and oligomerized in the Golgi to form hemichannels. Hemichannels from adjacent cells dock with one another to form gap junction channels that aggregate into plaques and allow cell-cell communication. Cell-cell communication was once thought to be the only function of connexins and their gap junction channels. In the mitochondria, however, connexins have been identified as monomers and assembled into hemichannels, thus questioning their role solely as cell-cell communication channels. Accordingly, mitochondrial connexins have been suggested to play critical roles in the regulation of mitochondrial functions, including potassium fluxes and respiration. However, while much is known about plasma membrane gap junction channel connexins, the presence and function of mitochondrial connexins remain poorly understood. In this review, the presence and role of mitochondrial connexins and mitochondrial/connexin-containing structure contact sites will be discussed. An understanding of the significance of mitochondrial connexins and their connexin contact sites is essential to our knowledge of connexins' functions in normal and pathological conditions, and this information may aid in the development of therapeutic interventions in diseases linked to mitochondria.

Localization of phosphorylated connexin 43 using serial section immunogold electron microscopy.

Gap junction turnover occurs through the internalization of both of the plasma membranes of a gap junction plaque, forming a double membrane-enclosed vesicle, or connexosome. Phosphorylation has a key role in regulation, but further progress requires the ability to clearly distinguish gap junctions and connexosomes, and to precisely identify proteins associated with them. We examined, by using electron microscopy, serial sections of mouse preovulatory ovarian follicles that had been collected with an automated tape collecting ultramicrotome (ATUM). We found that connexosomes can form from adjacent cell bodies, from thin cell processes or from the same cell. By immunolabeling serial sections, we found that residue S368 of connexin 43 (also known as GJA1) is phosphorylated on gap junctions and connexosomes, whereas connexin 43 residue S262 is phosphorylated only on some connexosomes. These data suggest that phosphorylation at S262 contributes to connexosome formation or processing, and they provide more precise evidence that phosphorylation has a key role in gap junction internalization. Serial section electron microscopy of immunogold-labeled tissues offers a new way to investigate the three-dimensional organization of cells in their native environment.