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The Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene product is localized in sarcolemma of human skeletal muscle

Nature volume 333, pages 466–469 (1988)Cite this article

Abstract

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and its milder form, Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD), are allelic X-linked muscle disorders in man1. The gene responsible for the disease has been cloned from knowledge of its map location at band Xp21 on the short arm of the X chromosome2–5. The product of the DMD gene, a protein of relative molecular mass 400,000 (Mr 400K) recently named dystrophin, has been reported to co-purify with triads of mouse and rabbit skeletal muscle when assayed using polyclonal antibodies raised against fusion proteins encoded by regions of mouse DMD complementary DNA6,7. Here we show that anti-bodies directed against synthetic peptides and fusion proteins derived from the N-terminal region of human DMD cDNA strongly react with an antigen present in skeletal muscle sar-colemma on cryostat sections of normal human muscle biopsies. This immunoreactivity is reduced or absent in muscle fibres from DMD patients but appears normal in muscle fibres from patients with other myopathic diseases. The same antibodies specifically react with a 400K protein in sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) extracts of normal human muscle subjected to Western blot analysis. We conclude that the product of the DMD gene is associated with the sarcolemma rather than with the triads and speculate that it strengthens the sarcolemma by anchoring elements of the internal cytoskeleton to the surface membrane.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genetics Department and Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children and The Departments of Medical Genetics and Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1X8, Canada

    Elizabeth E. Zubrzycka-Gaarn, Dennis E. Bulman, Arthur H. M. Burghes, Bonnie Belfall, Henry J. Klamut, Peter N. Ray & Ronald G. Worton

  2. Neuromuscular Research Group, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2BA, Canada

    George Karpati

  3. Department of Biochemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2H7, Canada

    Jim Talbot & Robert S. Hodges

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  1. Elizabeth E. Zubrzycka-Gaarn
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Zubrzycka-Gaarn, E., Bulman, D., Karpati, G. et al. The Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene product is localized in sarcolemma of human skeletal muscle. Nature 333, 466–469 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/333466a0

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