Cochlear gap junctions coassembled from Cx26 and 30 show faster intercellular Ca2+ signaling than homomeric counterparts.

The importance of connexins (Cxs) in cochlear functions has been demonstrated by the finding that mutations in Cx genes cause a large proportion of sensorineural hearing loss cases. However, it is still unclear how Cxs contribute to the cochlear function. Recent data (33) obtained from Cx30 knockout mice showing that a reduction of Cx diversity in assembling gap junctions is sufficient to cause deafness suggest that functional interactions of different subtypes of Cxs may be essential in normal hearing. In this work we show that the two major forms of Cxs (Cx26 and Cx30) in the cochlea have overlapping expression patterns beginning at early embryonic stages. Cx26 and Cx30 were colocalized in most gap junction plaques in the cochlea, and their coassembly was tested by coimmunoprecipitation. To compare functional differences of gap junctions with different molecular configurations, homo- and heteromeric gap junctions composed of Cx26 and/or Cx30 were reconstituted by transfections in human embryonic kidney-293 cells. The ratio imaging technique and fluorescent tracer diffusion assays were used to assess the function of reconstituted gap junctions. Our results revealed that gap junctions with different molecular configurations show differences in biochemical coupling, and that intercellular Ca(2+) signaling across heteromeric gap junctions consisting of Cx26 and Cx30 was at least twice as fast as their homomerically assembled counterparts. Our data suggest that biochemical permeability and the dynamics of intercellular signaling through gap junction channels, in addition to gap junction-mediated intercellular ionic coupling, may be important factors to consider for studying functional roles of gap junctions in the cochlea.