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J. Cell Biol.,
Volume 140, Number 4, February 23, 1998 831-842
§
* Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6058; Abstract. In muscle cells, excitation-contraction (e-c)
coupling is mediated by "calcium release units," junctions between the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and exterior membranes. Two proteins, which face each other,
are known to functionally interact in those structures:
the ryanodine receptors (RyRs), or SR calcium release channels, and the dihydropyridine receptors (DHPRs),
or L-type calcium channels of exterior membranes. In
skeletal muscle, DHPRs form tetrads, groups of four
receptors, and tetrads are organized in arrays that face
arrays of feet (or RyRs). Triadin is a protein of the SR
located at the SR-exterior membrane junctions, whose role is not known. We have structurally characterized
calcium release units in a skeletal muscle cell line (1B5)
lacking Ry1R. Using immunohistochemistry and freeze-fracture electron microscopy, we find that DHPR and
triadin are clustered in foci in differentiating 1B5 cells.
Thin section electron microscopy reveals numerous
SR-exterior membrane junctions lacking foot structures (dyspedic). These results suggest that components
other than Ry1Rs are responsible for targeting DHPRs
and triadin to junctional regions. However, DHPRs in
1B5 cells are not grouped into tetrads as in normal skeletal muscle cells suggesting that anchoring to Ry1Rs is
necessary for positioning DHPRs into ordered arrays
of tetrads. This hypothesis is confirmed by finding a
"restoration of tetrads" in junctional domains of surface membranes after transfection of 1B5 cells with
cDNA encoding for Ry1R.
Department of Cardiology, Laboratory of Molecular Cardiology, Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115; and § Department of Anesthesiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
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