Characterization of the ATP-hydrolysing activity of ?-sarcoglycan

α-Sarcoglycan is a glycoprotein associated with the dystrophin complex at sarcolemma of skeletal and cardiac muscles. Gene defects in α-sarcoglycan lead to a severe muscular dystrophy whose molecular mechanisms are not yet clear. A first insight into the function of α-sarcoglycan was obtained by finding that it is an ATP-binding protein and that it probably confers ability to hydrolyse ATP to the purified dystrophin complex [Betto, Senter, Ceoldo, Tarricone, Biral and Salviati (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 7907–7912]. In the present study, we present definitive evidence showing that α-sarcoglycan is an ATP-hydrolysing enzyme. The appearance of α-sarcoglycan protein expression was correlated with the increase in ecto-nucleotidase activity during differentiation of C2C12 cells. Approx. 25% of ecto-nucleotidase activity displayed by the C2C12 myotubes was inhibited by preincubating cells with an antibody specific for the ATP-binding motif of α-sarcoglycan. This demonstrates that α-sarcoglycan substantially contributes to total ecto-nucleotidase activity of C2C12 myotubes. To characterize further this activity, human embryonic kidney 293 cells were transfected with expression plasmids containing α-sarcoglycan cDNA. Transfected cells exhibited a significant increase in the ATP-hydrolysing activity that was abolished by the anti-α-sarcoglycan antibody. The enzyme had a substrate specificity for ATP and ADP, did not hydrolyse other triphosphonucleosides, and the affinity for ATP was in the low mM range. The ATPase activity strictly required the presence of both Mg2+ and Ca2+ and was completely inhibited by suramin and reactive blue-2. These results show that α-sarcoglycan is aCa2+,Mg2+-ecto-ATPDase. The possible consequences of the absence of α-sarcoglycan activity in the pathogenesis of muscular dystrophy are discussed.