Dystrobrevin- and dystrophin-like mutants display similar phenotypes in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

Dystrophin, the protein disrupted in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, forms a transmembrane complex with dystrophin-associated proteins. Dystrobrevins, proteins showing homology to the C-terminal end of dystrophin, and whose function is unknown, are part of the dystrophin complex. We report here that, in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, animals carrying mutations in either the dystrophin-like gene dys-1 or the dystrobrevin-like gene dyb-1 display similar behavioral and pharmacological phenotypes consistent with an alteration of cholinergic signalling. These findings suggest that: (1) dystrobrevin and dystrophin are functionally related and (2) their disruption impairs cholinergic signalling.