1.A.8.8.2
The lens fiber MIP aquaporin (Aqp0) of B. taurus (forms membrane junctions in vivo and double layered crystals in vitro that resemble the in vivo junctions). The water pore is closed in the in vitro structure (Gonen et al., 2004b). It interacts directly with the intracellular loop of connexin 45.6 via its C-terminal extension (Yu et al., 2005). Forms human cataract lens membranes (Buzhynskyy et al., 2007; Yang et al., 2011).  A mutation that causes congenital dominant lens cataracts has been identified (Varadaraj et al. 2008). AqpO catalyzes Zn²⁺-modulated water permeability as a cooperative tetramer (Nemeth-Cahalan et al., 2007). It transports ascorbic acid (Nakazawa et al., 2011). The Detergent organization around solubilized aquaporin-0 using Small Angle X-ray Scattering has been reported (Berthaud et al., 2012).  Aquaporin 0 (AQP0) in the eye lens is truncated by proteolytic cleavage during lens maturation. This truncated AQP0 is no longer a water channel (Berthaud et al. 2015).  A mutation that causes congenital dominant lens cataracts has been identified (Varadaraj et al. 2008). Cataractogenesis in MIP mutants are probably caused by defects in MIP gene expression in mice (Takahashi et al. 2017). This may be caused by the ability of Aqp0 (as well as Aqp1 and Aqp5) to transport hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) which can cause cataracts (Varadaraj and Kumari 2020).  An automated data processing and analysis pipeline for transmembrane proteins including Aqp0 in detergent solutions has been presented (Molodenskiy et al. 2020). EphA2 is required for normal Cx50 localization to the cell membrane, and conductance of lens fiber cells requires normal Eph-ephrin signaling and water channel (Aqp0) localization (Cheng et al. 2021). The local curvature of cellular membranes acts as a driving force for the targeting of membrane-associated proteins to specific membrane domains, as well as a sorting mechanism for transmembrane proteins, as demonstrated for Aqp0; AQP0 causes small negative curvature (Kluge et al. 2022).