JCB logo
amgmicro.com
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF, 729K)
Right arrow PPT slides of all figures
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JCB
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Blake, D. J.
Right arrow Articles by Beesley, P. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Blake, D. J.
Right arrow Articles by Beesley, P. W.
Right arrowPubmed/NCBI databases
*Gene*GEO Profiles
*HomoloGene*Protein
*UniGene
*Genetics Home Reference
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/1999//645 $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 147, Number 3, , 1999 645-658

Original Article

Different Dystrophin-like Complexes Are Expressed in Neurons and Glia



Derek J. Blakea, Richard Hawkesb, Matthew A. Bensona, and Phillip W. Beesleyc

a Department of Human Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QX, United Kingdom
b Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Genes and Development Research Group, University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada
c Division of Biochemistry, School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
Department of Human Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QX, UK.44 1865 272 18344 1865 272 183

dblake{at}enterprise.molbiol.ox.ac.uk

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a fatal muscle disease that is often associated with cognitive impairment. Accordingly, dystrophin is found at the muscle sarcolemma and at postsynaptic sites in neurons. In muscle, dystrophin forms part of a membrane-spanning complex, the dystrophin-associated protein complex (DPC). Whereas the composition of the DPC in muscle is well documented, the existence of a similar complex in brain remains largely unknown. To determine the composition of DPC-like complexes in brain, we have examined the molecular associations and distribution of the dystrobrevins, a widely expressed family of dystrophin-associated proteins, some of which are components of the muscle DPC. β-Dystrobrevin is found in neurons and is highly enriched in postsynaptic densities (PSDs). Furthermore, β-dystrobrevin forms a specific complex with dystrophin and syntrophin. By contrast, {alpha}-dystrobrevin-1 is found in perivascular astrocytes and Bergmann glia, and is not PSD-enriched. {alpha}-Dystrobrevin-1 is associated with Dp71, utrophin, and syntrophin. In the brains of mice that lack dystrophin and Dp71, the dystrobrevin–syntrophin complexes are still formed, whereas in dystrophin-deficient muscle, the assembly of the DPC is disrupted. Thus, despite the similarity in primary sequence, {alpha}- and β-dystrobrevin are differentially distributed in the brain where they form separate DPC-like complexes.

Key Words: dystrobrevin • dystrophin • synapse • postsynaptic density • astrocyte

© 1999 The Rockefeller University Press

1.used in this paper: DMD, Duchenne muscular dystrophy; DPC, dystrophin-associated protein complex; LM, light membrane; NMDA, N-methyl d-aspartate; nNOS, neuronal nitric oxide synthase; PSD, postsynaptic density; SM, synaptic membrane


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?




  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents