Figure 6.

Mutant NSDAA-consortin alters the intracellular traffic of connexins. (A) Pulldown of Cx26, Cx30, Cx43 and Cx45 by GST-NSDAA-consortin. Bands corresponding to the monomeric form of the indicated connexin and its putative hexamer are indicated by arrows and arrowheads, respectively. (B) In HeLa cells expressing either Cx45-eGFP or Cx26, co-expression of wild-type consortin has no effect on the cell surface display of either connexin, which formed plaques at intercellular contacts consistent with the presence of gap junctions (arrowheads). (C) In contrast, expression of the NSDAA-consortin mutant caused the intracellular accumulation (asterisks) of both Cx45-eGFP and Cx26. Thus, NSDAA-consortin behaves as a dominant-negative mutant. White lines outline cell contours, as observed in differential interference contrast (DIC) confocal images. Bars, 5 µm.