Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
Volume 19, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/ijms19040977
Keywords
atrial fibrillation; gap junction channel; connexin40; V-j gating; patch clamp
Funding
- Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada [G-13-0003066]
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research [153415]
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Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common form of cardiac arrhythmia. Recently, four novel heterozygous Cx40 mutations-K107R, L223M, Q236H, and I257L-were identified in 4 of 310 unrelated AF patients and a followup genetic analysis of the mutant carriers' families showed that the mutants were present in all the affected members. To study possible alterations associated with these Cx40 mutants, including their cellular localization and gap junction (GJ) function, we expressed GFP-tagged and untagged mutants in connexin-deficient model cells. All four Cx40 mutants showed clustered localization at cell-cell junctions similar to that observed of wildtype Cx40. However, cell pairs expressing Cx40 Q236H, but not the other individual mutants, displayed a significantly lower GJ coupling conductance (Gj) than wildtype Cx40. Similarly, co-expression of Cx40 Q236H with Cx43 resulted in a significantly lower G(j). Transjunctional voltage-dependent gating (V-j gating) properties were also altered in the GJs formed by Q236H. Reduced GJ function and altered V-j gating may play a role in promoting the Q236H carriers to AF.
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