Fig. 7.
Cx43 mutants at the cytoplasmic membrane interface region of TM3 lacking the ER retention signal form gap junction plaques. HeLa cells transfected with Cx43 (a), Cx43-HKKSL (b), Cx43R153G (c), Cx43R153G-HKKSL (d), Cx43L152MR153G (e) or Cx43L152-MR153G-HKKSL (f) were fixed, permeabilized and then immunolabeled for Cx43. All untagged constructs formed gap junction plaques (arrowheads), indicating that they were properly folded and transported to the plasma membrane (a, c, e). By contrast, the HKKSL-tagged constructs showed ER localization (b, d, f). Bar 10 µm