Archvillin C-Terminus-Binding Proteins in Human Skeletal Muscle

Archivillin, a muscle-specific isoform of supervillin, is a component of the costameric cytoskeleton of muscle cells. The purpose of this study was to determine which protein in the skeletal muscle collaborates with archvillin C-terminus. For this purpose, a yeast two-hybrid screening of human skeletal muscle cDNA library was performed using the C-terminal region of archvillin as bait. This study shows that seven human skeletal muscle proteins, namely, nebulin, xeplin, archvillin, GAPDH, TOX4, PITRM1, and YME1L1 interact with archvillin C-terminus. Especially, xeplin is a newly discovered protein interacts with archvillin C-terminus. These results indicate that archvillin C-terminus acts as a bridge between nebulin and xeplin at costameres. Archvillin C-terminal region interacts with nebulin C-terminal region at Z-discs and interacts with xeplin at the vicinity of sarcolemma. I propose that these interactions may contribute to formation of costameric structure and muscle contraction.