β-Dystroglycan can be revealed in microsomes from mdx mouse muscle by detergent treatment

beta-Dystroglycan is the central member of a transmembrane protein complex of the skeletal muscle plasma membrane. Since it was not detected in dystrophin-deficient skeletal muscles, a disruption of the complex was thought to be involved in the dystrophic process. We report here that beta-dystroglycan is actually present at normal levels in mdx mouse muscle plasma membrane: treatment with cholate detergent is able to reveal its presence by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting. This result shows that, in dystrophin-deficient muscles, beta-dystroglycan is indeed targeted to the plasma membrane but remains inaccessible to classical solubilizing treatments and to antibodies used for immunolocalization. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies.