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. 2005 Nov;25(7):1151–1169. doi: 10.1007/s10571-005-8503-0

Identification of the Cytolinker Protein Plectin in Neuronal Cellst-Expression of a Rodless Isoform in Neurons of the Rat Superior Cervical Ganglion

Ferdinand Steinboeck 1,3,✉, Doris Kristufek 2
PMCID: PMC11529549  PMID: 16392043

Abstract

Plectin, a large (≤500 kDa) dumbbell-shaped cytolinker protein plays an important role in the organization of the cytoskeletal network and the maintenance of cell integrity in a wide varietyof tissues and cell types. Earlier experiments revealed the presence of plectin in the central nervous system, whereas the expression in the peripheral nervous system remained unclear. Our results obtained with reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) provide evidence that plectin is expressed in structures of the rat peripheral nervous system. In addition to well-characterized plectin transcriptswewere able to reveal novel splicing variants affecting the region coding for the central rod domain. Previous studies report a high, but tissuespecific variability of the N-terminal domain of plectin due to alternatively spliced first coding exons and the optionally spliced small exons 2á and 3á. We demonstrate for the first time, using single-cell RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry, that plectin is expressed in neurons of the rat superior cervical ganglion (SCG). Plectin transcripts of single SCG neurons, starting with exon 1c as the first coding exon, contain the optionally spliced exon 2α but lack exon 31. These data therefore suggest that plectin is expressed in rat SCG neurons as a rodless isoform with the molecular mass of 390 kDa.

Key Words: single-cell RT-PCR, neuronal cells, peripheral nerve

Abbreviations:

ABD

actin-binding domain

BPAG

bullous pemphigoid antigen

bp

base pairs

cDNA

complementaryDNA

DRG

dorsal root ganglion

EBS

epidermolysis bullosa simplex

GAPDH

glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase

IF

intermediate filament

mAb

monoclonal antibody

MAP

microtubule associated protein

MD

muscular dystrophy

NF

neurofilament

NMJ

neuromuscular junction

PBS

phosphate buffered saline

PSD

postsynaptic density

RT-PCR

reverse transcriptase-PCR

SCG

superior cervical ganglion

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