contractile vacuole pore

GO:0031913 · Membrane organelle · Multiprotein complex · Proposed

Stable structure that regulates the flow of liquid between the contractile vacuole and the surrounding medium. [GO:0031913]

Part of: contractile vacuolar membrane (GO:0031164); GO:0005856 — cytoskeleton (no local record)

UniProt location names: UniProt Consortium, CC BY 4.0. Reference label and route sources.

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:5911 Tetrahymena thermophila — Ciliate model whose contractile-vacuole pore was included in the cell-biology review used by GO to define GO:0031913. [DOI:10.1016/S0091-679X(08)61528-9]

Functions

regulated contractile-vacuole discharge — The contractile vacuole pore regulates liquid flow between the contractile vacuole and the exterior medium during discharge.
- GO:0031913 GO:0031913 defines the contractile vacuole pore as a stable structure that regulates liquid flow between the contractile vacuole and surrounding medium.
- DOI:10.1111/j.1550-7408.1973.tb03587.x McKanna 1973 analyzed the fine structure of the Paramecium contractile-vacuole pore.

Mechanism graphs

Contractile-vacuole pores connect the vacuole to the medium (FUNCTION)

The contractile vacuole pore is a plasma-membrane protein complex that sits in the contractile vacuolar membrane and cytoskeletal framework and regulates liquid passage during vacuole discharge.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
contractile vacuole pore	is part of	contractile vacuolar membrane	`GO:0031913` The GO graph links GO:0031913 contractile vacuole pore to GO:0031164 contractile vacuolar membrane by part_of.
contractile vacuole pore	is part of	cytoskeleton	`GO:0031913` The GO graph links GO:0031913 contractile vacuole pore to GO:0005856 cytoskeleton by part_of.
contractile vacuole pore	regulates	contractile-vacuole liquid discharge	`GO:0031913` GO defines the pore by regulation of liquid flow between the contractile vacuole and surrounding medium. `DOI:10.1111/j.1550-7408.1973.tb03587.x` McKanna 1973 resolved the fine structure of the Paramecium contractile-vacuole pore.

Discussions

CURATION_TODO (OPEN): Resolve exact source-neutral protein-family or complex groundings for contractile-vacuole pore constituents. The GO topology and ultrastructural evidence establish the pore as a stable structure, but this pass did not verify InterPro, Pfam, NCBIfam, UniProtKB or Complex Portal CURIEs for exact lineage-neutral pore subunits.

Evidence

GO:0031913 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the contractile vacuole pore.
GO:0098797 Gene Ontology parent term that classifies the contractile vacuole pore as a plasma membrane protein complex.
GO:0031164 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the contractile vacuolar membrane.
GO:0005856 — cytoskeleton Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the cytoskeleton, which GO:0031913 links to the pore by part_of.
DOI:10.1016/S0091-679X(08)61528-9 Frankel 2000, Cell biology of Tetrahymena thermophila, Methods in Cell Biology; cited by GO:0031913 for the contractile vacuole pore definition.
DOI:10.1111/j.1550-7408.1973.tb03587.x McKanna 1973, Fine structure of the contractile vacuole pore in Paramecium, Journal of Protozoology.

Curation history

2026-10-02T15:01:51Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-10-02T15:02:48Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added plasma-membrane-protein-complex parentage, contractile-vacuolar membrane and cytoskeleton parthood, Tetrahymena and Paramecium examples, a regulated-discharge function, GO/DOI evidence, a nonmechanistic pore topology graph, and an open pore-component grounding TODO.
2026-10-02T15:17:28Z codex · ADDRESSED_PR_REVIEW — Addressed review issues #1919 and #1920 by tightening the GO:0031164 evidence note and removing a genus-level Paramecium canonical example while retaining McKanna 1973 as structural evidence.

Source: data/structures/membrane_organelle/contractile_vacuole_pore.yaml