However, the notion of cochlear K+ recycling has been questioned (Patuzzi, 2011), and there are deafness-associated Cx26 mutants that form K+ permeable GJCs, but show more subtle permeability changes, such as decrease in pore size or changes in charge-selective permeability (Goldberg et al., 1999, 2002; Bruzzone et al., 2003; Beltramello et al., 2005; Chen et al., 2005; Zhao, 2005; Deng et al., 2006; Anselmi et al., 2008; Gossman and Zhao, 2008; Mese et al., 2008; Majumder et al., 2010). The gene discussed is GJB2; the disease is deafness.