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The Cellular Prion Protein Colocalizes with the Dystroglycan Complex in the Brain
Author(s) -
Keshet Gilmor I.,
BarPeled Osnat,
Yaffe David,
Nudel Uri,
Gabizon Ruth
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1046/j.1471-4159.2000.0751889.x
Subject(s) - lipid raft , microbiology and biotechnology , gene isoform , immunoprecipitation , transmembrane protein , biology , scrapie , membrane protein , chemistry , biochemistry , prion protein , signal transduction , receptor , membrane , gene , medicine , disease , pathology
The function of PrP C , the cellular prion protein (PrP), is still unknown. Like other glycophosphatidylinositol‐anchored proteins, PrP resides on Triton‐insoluble, cholesterol‐rich membranous microdomains, termed rafts. We have recently shown that the activity and subcellular localization of the neuronal isoform of nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) are impaired in adult PrP 0/0 mice as well as in scrapie‐infected mice. In this study, we sought to determine whether PrP and nNOS are part of the same functional complex and, if so, to identify additional components of such a complex. To this aim, we looked for proteins that coimmunoprecipitated with PrP in the presence of detergents either that completely dissociate rafts, to identify stronger interactions, or that preserve the raft structure, to identify weaker interactions. Using this detergent‐dependent immunoprecipitation protocol we found that PrP interacts strongly with dystroglycan, a transmembrane protein that is the core of the dystrophin—glycoprotein complex (DGC). Additional results suggest that PrP also interacts with additional members of the DGC, including nNOS. PrP coprecipitated only with established presynaptic proteins, consistent with recent findings suggesting that PrP is a presynaptic protein.