GJA5 and atrial fibrillation: Syncytial myocardial conduction may then persist despite compromised gap junction coupling following clinical ischaemic insult (Rohr, 2004), atrial fibrillation (Chaldoupi et al., 2009) and in experimental loss-of-function, Cx43 (Eloff et al., 2001; Gutstein et al., 2001) or Cx40, genetic platforms (Hagendorff et al., 1999; Bagwe et al., 2005).