Skip to main content

Direct Signaling via Gap Junctions and Plasmodesmata

This video presents the same text shown beside it, spoken and on screen. It adds nothing the text does not say.

State

Gap junctions in animal cells and plasmodesmata in plant cells are direct channels letting small signaling molecules pass between adjacent cells without entering the extracellular space.

Show

A calcium ion moving through a gap junction lets one cell relay its signaled state directly to its neighbor.

Watch for

These channels admit only small molecules and ions — proteins and DNA are too large to pass.

Builds on

Unlocks

  • Nothing yet depends on this.