Biography and Research Interest

Publications

Non-Zebrafish Publications

O’Brien, J., Al-Ubaidi, M.R., and Ripps, H.: Connexin 35: A gap junctional protein expressed preferentially in the skate retina. Mol. Biol. Cell 7: 233-243, 1996. PMCID: PMC275876
O’Brien, J., Bruzzone, R., White, T.W., Al-Ubaidi, M.R., and Ripps, H.: Cloning and expression of two related connexins from the perch retina define a new subgroup of the connexin family. J. Neurosci. 18 (19): 7625-7637, 1998.
White, T.W., Deans, M.R., O’Brien, J., Al-Ubaidi, M.R., Goodenough, D.A., Ripps, H., and Bruzzone, R.: Functional characteristics of skate connexin35, a member of the γ subfamily of connexins expressed in the vertebrate retina. Eur. J. Neurosci. 11(6): 1883-1890, 1999.
Pereda, A., O'Brien, J., Nagy, J.I., Bukauskas, F., Davidson, K.G.V., Yasumura, T., and Rash, J.E. Connexin35 mediates electrical transmission at mixed synapses on Mauthner cells. J. Neurosci. 23(20): 7489-7503, 2003. PMCID: PMC1805790
O’Brien, J., Nguyen, H.B., and Mills, S.L. Cone photoreceptors in bass retina use two connexins to mediate electrical coupling. J. Neurosci. 24(24): 5632-5642, 2004. PMCID: PMC2222551
Ouyang, X., Winbow, V.M., Patel, L.S., Burr, G.S., Mitchell, C.K., and O’Brien, J. Protein kinase A mediates reversible regulation of electrical synapses containing connexin35 through a complex pathway. Mol. Brain Res. 135(1-2): 1-11, 2005. PMCID: PMC2212611
Burr, G.S., Mitchell, C.K., Keflemariam, Y.J., Heidelberger, R., and O’Brien, J. Calcium-dependent binding of calmodulin to retinal gap junction proteins. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 335: 1191-1198, 2005. PMCID: PMC2222552
Patel, L.S., Mitchell, C.K., Dubinsky, W.P., and O’Brien, J. Regulation of gap junction coupling through the neuronal connexin Cx35 by nitric oxide and cGMP. Cell Commun. Adhes. 13(1-2): 41-54, 2006. PMCID: PMC2189984
Kothmann, W.W., X. Li, Burr, G.S., and O’Brien, J. Connexin35/36 is phosphorylated at regulatory sites in the retina. Vis. Neurosci. 24(3): 363-375, 2007. PMCID: PMC2170900
Kothmann, W.W., Massey, S.C., and O’Brien, J. Dopamine-stimulated dephosphorylation of connexin 36 mediates AII amacrine cell uncoupling. J. Neurosci. 29(47): 14903-14911, 2009. PMCID: PMC2839935
Kothmann, W.W., Trexler, E.B., Whitaker, C.M., Li, W., Massey, S.C., and O’Brien, J. Nonsynaptic NMDA receptors mediate activity-dependent plasticity of gap junctional coupling in the AII amacrine cell network. J. Neurosci. 32(20): 6747-6759, 2012. PMCID: PMC3367513
Li, H., Zhang, Z., Blackburn, M.R., Wang, S.W., Ribelayga, C.P. and O'Brien, J. Adenosine and dopamine receptors co-regulate photoreceptor coupling via gap junction phosphorylation in mouse retina. J. Neurosci. 33(7): 3135-3150, 2013. PMCID: PMC3711184.
Rash, J.E., Curti, S., Davidson, K.G.V., Kamasawa, N., Nannapaneni, S., Flores, C.E., Yasumura, T., O’Brien, J., Lynn, B.D., Nagy, J.I., and Pereda, A.E. Molecular and functional asymmetry at a vertebrate electrical synapse. Neuron 79(5): 957-969, 2013. PMCID: PMC4020187.
Li H, Chuang AZ, O'Brien J (2014) Regulation of photoreceptor gap junction phosphorylation by adenosine in zebrafish retina. Vis Neurosci 31:237-243. PMCID: PMC4109651
Rash JE, Kamasawa N, Vanderpool KG, Yasumura T, O'Brien J, Nannapaneni S, Pereda AE, Nagy JI (2015) Heterotypic gap junctions at glutamatergic mixed synapses are abundant in goldfish brain. Neuroscience 285:166-193. PMC4282965
Wang HY, Lin YP, Mitchell CK, Ram S, O'Brien J (2015) Two-color fluorescent analysis of connexin 36 turnover: relationship to functional plasticity. J Cell Sci 128:3888-3897. PMC4647165
Zhang Z, Li H, Liu X, O'Brien J, Ribelayga CP (2015) Circadian clock control of connexin36 phosphorylation in retinal photoreceptors of the CBA/CaJ mouse strain. Vis Neurosci 32:E009. PMC4760741
Curti S, O'Brien J (2016) Characteristics and plasticity of electrical synaptic transmission. BMC Cell Biol 17 Suppl 1:13. PMC4896238
Miller AC, Whitebirch AC, Shah AN, Marsden KC, Granato M, O'Brien J, Moens CB (2017) A genetic basis for molecular asymmetry at vertebrate electrical synapses. eLife 6. PMC5462537
Vila A, Whitaker CM, O'Brien J (2017) Membrane-associated guanylate kinase scaffolds organize a horizontal cell synaptic complex restricted to invaginating contacts with photoreceptors. J Comp Neurol 525:850-867. PMC5222809
Yoshikawa S, Vila A, Segelken J, Lin YP, Mitchell CK, Nguyen D, O'Brien J (2017) Zebrafish connexin 79.8 (Gja8a): A lens connexin used as an electrical synapse in some neurons. Dev Neurobiol 77:548-561. PMC5226913
O'Brien J, Bloomfield SA (2018) Plasticity of Retinal Gap Junctions: Roles in Synaptic Physiology and Disease. Annu Rev Vis Sci 4:79-100.
O'Brien J (2019) Design principles of electrical synaptic plasticity. Neurosci Lett 695:4-11. PMC5843509
Aseervatham J, Li X, Mitchell CK, Lin YP, Heidelberger R, O'Brien J (2020) Calmodulin Binding to Connexin 35: Specializations to Function as an Electrical Synapse. International journal of molecular sciences 21. PMC7504508
Moore KB, Mitchell CK, Lin YP, Lee YH, Shihabeddin E, O'Brien J (2020) Localized Calcium Signaling and the Control of Coupling at Cx36 Gap Junctions. eNeuro 7. PMC7168262
Santhanam A, Shihabeddin E, Atkinson JA, Nguyen D, Lin YP, O'Brien J (2020) A Zebrafish Model of Retinitis Pigmentosa Shows Continuous Degeneration and Regeneration of Rod Photoreceptors. Cells 9. PMC7599532
Tetenborg S, Wang HY, Nemitz L, Depping A, Espejo AB, Aseervatham J, Bedford MT, Janssen-Bienhold U, O'Brien J, Dedek K (2020) Phosphorylation of Connexin36 near the C-terminus switches binding affinities for PDZ-domain and 14-3-3 proteins in vitro. Scientific reports 10:18378. PMC7592057
Vila A, Shihabeddin E, Zhang Z, Santhanam A, Ribelayga CP, O'Brien J (2021) Synaptic Scaffolds, Ion Channels and Polyamines in Mouse Photoreceptor Synapses: Anatomy of a Signaling Complex. Frontiers in cellular neuroscience 15:667046. PMC8356055