title: Dystrophin is a component of the subsynaptic membrane.
abstract: A subsynaptic protein of Mr approximately 300 kD is a major component of Torpedo electric organ postsynaptic membranes and copurifies with the AChR and the 43-kD subsynaptic protein. mAbs against this protein react with neuromuscular synapses in higher vertebrates, but not at synapses in dystrophic muscle. The Torpedo 300-kD protein comigrates in SDS-PAGE with murine dystrophin and reacts with antibodies against murine dystrophin. The sequence of a partial cDNA isolated by screening an expression library with mAbs against the Torpedo 300-kD protein shows striking homology to mammalian dystrophin, and in particular to the b isoform of dystrophin. These results indicate that dystrophin is a component of the postsynaptic membrane at neuromuscular synapses and raise the possibility that loss of dystrophin from synapses in dystrophic muscle may have consequences that contribute to muscular dystrophy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Yeadon
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Dyer
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Burden
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA; D016189:Dystrophin / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D004557:Electric Organ / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D000939:Epitopes; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013570:Synaptic Membranes / Q000737:chemistry*; D014101:Torpedo
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D016189:Dystrophin; D000939:Epitopes; D004247:DNA