STRUCTURE, FUNCTION, REGULATION - EXPERIM ENTAL-ANALYSIS IN GROUPS OFNONEXCITABLE CELLS, COMMUNICATED VIA PERMEABLE JUNCTIONS

In this author's review, the functional properties of permeable juncti ons with different structure (microplasmadesma of filamentous cyanobac teria, septal pores of fungi, and gap junctions of animals) are descri bed. The examples of distribution of power by ionic fluxes and electri c currents through permeable cell-to-cell junctions are considered. Ba sed on analysis of intercellular communications occuring during apical growth of hyphae of wild-type and mutant lines of the mycelial fungus Neurospora crassa, the approaches to studying molecular and genetic m echanisms of self-organization in systems of cells with permeable junc tions are discussed.