A Novel Mechanism for Modulating Synaptic Gene Expression: Differential Localization of α-Dystrobrevin Transcripts in Skeletal Muscle

α-Dystrobrevin is a dystrophin-related and -associated protein that is involved in synapse maturation and is required for normal muscle function. There are three protein isoforms in skeletal muscle, α-dystrobrevin-1, -2, and -3 that are encoded by the single α-dystrobrevin gene. To understand the role of these proteins in muscle we have investigated the localisation and transcript distribution of the different α-dystrobrevin isoforms. α-Dystrobrevin-1 and -2 are concentrated at the neuromuscular junction and are both recruited into agrin-induced acetylcholine receptor clusters in cultured myotubes. We also demonstrate that all α-dystrobrevin mRNAs are transcribed from a single promoter in skeletal muscle. However, only transcripts encoding α-dystrobrevin-1 are preferentially accumulated at postsynaptic sites. These data suggest that the synaptic accumulation of α-dystrobrevin-1 mRNA occurs posttranscriptionally, identifying a novel mechanism for synaptic gene expression. Taken together, these results indicate that different isoforms possess distinct roles in synapse formation and possibly in the pathogenesis of muscular dystrophy.