Cx40.8, a Cx43-like protein, forms gap junction channels inefficiently and may require Cx43 for its association at the plasma membrane

In addition to having a Cx43 ortholog, the zebra fish genome also contains a Cx43-like gene, Cx40.8. Here, we investigate the expression of cx40.8 in zebra fish fins and the function of Cx40.8 in HeLa cells. We find that cx40.8 is present in the same population of dividing cells as cx43. Unlike Cx43, dye coupling assays suggest that Cx40.8 only inefficiently forms functional gap junction channels. However, co-transfection reveals that Cx40.8 can co-localize with Cx43 in gap junction plaques, and that the resulting plaques contain functional gap junction channels. Together, these data suggest the possibility that Cx40.8 may functionally interact with Cx43 to regulate cell proliferation in vivo.