title: Sarcoglycan complex: a muscular supporter of dystroglycan-dystrophin interplay?
abstract: In striated muscle, the cytoskeletal protein dystrophin, the protein product of the Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene, is associated with a number of sarcolemmal glycoproteins to form a large oligomeric complex, the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (DGC). Over the last 10 years, four of these sarcolemmal glycoproteins, alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-sarcoglycans, have been shown to form a distinct subcomplex, the sarcoglycan complex, in the DGC. Furthermore, the genetic defects of alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-sarcoglycans have been identified as the causes of four distinct forms of muscular dystrophies, which are now collectively called sarcoglycanopathy. Current studies are beginning to focus on the biological functions of the sarcoglycan complex and the molecular mechanism by which its dysfunction leads to muscle cell degeneration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Neuroscience, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. k-matsu@med.teikyo-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsumura
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hase
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sunada
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D049030:Dystroglycans; D016189:Dystrophin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009136:Muscular Dystrophies / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D049031:Sarcoglycans
chemical_list: D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; C483081:DAG1 protein, human; D016189:Dystrophin; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D049031:Sarcoglycans; D049030:Dystroglycans