Gap Junction Protein Alpha 10 (GJa10)

Connexins, such as GJA10, are involved in the formation of gap junctions, intercellular conduits that directly connect the cytoplasms of contacting cells. Each gap junction channel is formed by docking of 2 hemichannels, each of which contains 6 connexin subunits.By database analysis and PCR of human genomic DNA, Sohl et al. (2003) cloned GJA10, which they called CX62. CX62 shares 78% amino acid identity with its mouse ortholog, Cx57. Northern blot analysis detected a 6.5-kb CX62 transcript in skeletal muscle and heart. Mouse Cx57 appeared to be more widely expressed. Hartz (2008) mapped the GJA10 gene to chromosome 6q15 based on an alignment of the GJA10 sequence with the genomic sequence (build 36.1).