The Hydrophobic Residues in Amino Terminal Domains of Cx46 and Cx50 Are Important for Their Gap Junction Channel Ion Permeation and Gating

Lens gap junctions (GJs) formed by Cx46 and Cx50 are important to keep lens transparency. Functional studies on Cx46 and Cx50 GJs showed that the Vj-gating, single channel conductance (γj), gating polarity, and/or channel open stability could be modified by the charged residues in the amino terminal (NT) domain. The role of hydrophobic residues in the NT on GJ properties is not clear. Crystal and cryo-EM GJ structures have been resolved, but the NT domain structure has either not been resolved or has showed very different orientations depending on the component connexins and possibly other experimental conditions, making it difficult to understand the structural basis of the NT in Vj-gating and γj. Here, we generated missense variants in Cx46 and Cx50 NT domains and studied their properties by recombinant expression and dual whole-cell patch clamp experiments on connexin-deficient N2A cells. The NT variants (Cx46 L10I, N13E, A14V, Q15N, and Cx50 I10L, E13N, V14A, N15Q) were all able to form functional GJs with similar coupling%, except Cx46 N13E, which showed a significantly reduced coupling%. The GJs of Cx46 N13E, A14V and Cx50 E13N, N15Q showed a reduced coupling conductance. Vj-gating of all the variant GJs were similar to the corresponding wild-type GJs except Cx46 L10I. The γj of Cx46 N13E, A14V, Cx50 E13N, and N15Q GJs was reduced to 51%, 82%, 87%, and 74%, respectively, as compared to their wild-type γjs. Structural models of Cx46 L10I and A14V predicted steric clashes between these residues and the TM2 residues, which might be partially responsible for our observed changes in GJ properties. To verify the importance of hydrophobic interactions, we generated a variant, Cx50 S89T, which also shows a steric clash and failed to form a functional GJ. Our experimental results and structure models indicate that hydrophobic interactions between the NT and TM2 domain are important for their Vj-gating, γj, and channel open stability in these and possibly other GJs.