FIGURE 1-31 The dystrophin glycoprotein complex (DGC) in skeletal muscle cells. Dystrophin—the protein that is defective in Duchenne muscular dystrophy—links the actin cytoskeleton to the multiprotein sarcoglycan complex in the plasma membrane. Other proteins in the complex bind to components of the basal lamina, such as laminin, which in turn bind to the collagen fibers that give the basal lamina strength and rigidity. Thus dystrophin is an important member of a group of proteins that links the muscle cell and its internal actin cytoskeleton with the surrounding basal lamina. See D. E. Michele and K. P. Campbell, 2003, J. Biol. Chem. 278:15457.