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The Journal of Cell Biology, Vol 115, 1437-1448, Copyright © 1991 by The Rockefeller University Press
ARTICLES |
DN Cooper, SM Massa and SH Barondes
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco 94143.
L-14, a dimeric lactose-binding lectin with subunits of 14 kD, is expressed in a wide range of vertebrate tissues. Several functions have been postulated for this lectin, but definitive evidence for a specific biological role has been elusive. In muscle, L-14 is secreted during differentiation and accumulates with laminin in basement membrane surrounding each myofiber. Here we present evidence that laminin is a major glycoprotein ligand for L-14 in differentiating mouse C2C12 muscle cells and that binding of secreted L-14 to polylactosamine oligosaccharides of substrate laminin induces loss of cell-substratum adhesion. These results suggest that one function of L-14 is to regulate myoblast detachment from laminin during differentiation and fusion into tubular myofibers.
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