Fig. 3.

Dystroglycan-dependent effects on adhesion morphology. Wild-type H2k myoblasts, or cells expressing a control sense shRNA construct (sense), an shRNA directed against dystroglycan (knockdown), dystroglycan-GFP (DG-GFP) or GFP alone were allowed to adhere and spread and were then stained for vinculin. The number and type of adhesions formed were classified into focal complexes, focal adhesions and fibrillar adhesions. Altering dystroglycan levels either up (A) or down (B) reduces the total number of adhesions present in myoblasts. In dystroglycan-overexpressing cells, this is due to a decrease in absolute numbers of focal complexes and fibrillar adhesions (C), whereas in dystroglycan-depleted cells, although the number of focal complexes are markedly reduced, fibrillar adhesions increase (D). However, when expressed as a percentage of adhesion types for a given treatment, dystroglycan overexpression actually causes an increase in the proportion of focal complexes (E), whereas dystroglycan depletion reduces the proportion of focal complexes, but increases fibrillar adhesions (F). Data are mean ± s.e.m. of three independent experiments measuring adhesions from at least 30 cells. ^*P<0.05.