A constitutive transmembrane glycoprotein of Mr 165,000 (desmoglein) in epidermal and non-epidermal desmosomes. I. Biochemical identification of the polypeptide.

Two murine monoclonal antibodies (DG 3.4 and DG 3.10) raised against a major glycoprotein ("band 3 component") from desmosomes of bovine muzzle epidermis were used in immunoblot experiments following SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis or two-dimensional gel electrophoresis to identify this or immunologically related proteins in other bovine tissues and cultured cell lines. In all desmosome-bearing cells, i.e. cells also expressing desmoplakins, including representative of stratified, transitional and simple epithelia as well as myocardium, only a single distinct polypeptide of identical Mr value (165,000) and electrical charge was detected. These findings, together with the immunolocalization results reported in the companion paper indicate that this glycoprotein (desmoglein) is a general constituent protein of desmosomes, providing a case of an integral membrane protein co-expressed with non-membranous desmosomal proteins such as the plaque component, desmoplakin I. Our results further suggest that, contrary to previous suggestions, desmoglein is very similar, if not identical in different cells of the same species and does not display significant cell type diversity.