Heart Defects Can Cause Severe Problems in Newborn Infants

Short Answer

Heart defects can cause severe problems in newborn infants.One type of defect occurs when an infant inherits a mutation in the gene encoding connexin, the protein that is the structural component of gap junctions between heart cells.Connexin mutants can cause arrhythmia, which is an abnormal heartbeat.In these cases, cardiac cells are unable to beat in unison because of the lack of a rapid spread of ________ among cells.