In this review article, we will describe the recent advances made towards understanding the molecular and cell biological mechanisms of electrical synapse formation. New evidence indicates that electrical synapses, which are gap junctions between neurons, can have complex molecular compositions including protein asymmetries across joined cells, diverse morphological arrangements, and overlooked similarities with other junctions, all of which indicate new potential roles in neurodevelopmental disease. Aquatic organisms, and in particular the vertebrate zebrafish, have proven to be excellent models for elucidating the molecular mechanisms of electrical synapse formation. Zebrafish will serve as our main exemplar throughout this review and will be compared with other model organisms. We highlight the known cell biological processes that build neuronal gap junctions and compare these with the assemblies of adherens junctions, tight junctions, non-neuronal gap junctions, and chemical synapses to explore the unknown frontiers remaining in our understanding of the critical and ubiquitous electrical synapse.

在这篇综述文章中，我们将描述在了解电突触形成的分子和细胞生物学机制方面的最新进展。新证据表明，电突触是神经元之间的间隙连接，可以具有复杂的分子组成，包括跨连接细胞的蛋白质不对称，多样的形态排列以及与其他连接的相似之处，所有这些都表明在神经发育疾病中有新的潜在作用。水生生物，尤其是脊椎动物斑马鱼，已被证明是阐明电突触形成的分子机制的优秀模型。在整个审查过程中，斑马鱼将成为我们的主要范例，并将与其他模型生物进行比较。