Gap junctions from the lens: Purification and characterization by chemical crosslinking reagent

Quantitation of gap junction preparations from chick lens by transmission electron microscopy has indicated that 95.0% of the membrane bilayer material is in the form trilayer structures. The preparations were comprised of a major polypeptide component of 26K, as well as minor components of 49K, 46K and 22K–15K. Treatment with oxidizing agent resulted in the production of apparent homo-oligomeric complexes involving the 26K and 46K components. These results demonstrate that the 26K polypeptide is the major component of highly purified preparations of lens gap junctions. Furthermore, they demonstrate that this 26K component plus an additional 46K component are both involved in extensive nearest-neighbor interactions in the intact junctional complex.