This study was designed to define the molecular epitopes of dystrophin-actin interaction and to directly compare the actin binding properties of dystrophin and utrophin. According to our data, dystrophin and utrophin both bound alongside actin filaments with submicromolar affinities. However, the molecular epitopes involved in actin binding differed between the two proteins. In utrophin, the amino-terminal domain and an adjacent string of the first 10 spectrin-like repeats more fully recapitulated the activities measured for full-length protein. The homologous region of dystrophin bound actin with low affinity and near 1:1 stoichiometry as previously measured for the isolated amino-terminal, tandem (CH) domain. In contrast, a dystrophin construct including a cluster of basic spectrin-like repeats and spanning from the amino terminus through repeat 17, bound actin with properties most similar to full-length dystrophin. Dystrophin and utrophin both stabilized preformed actin filaments from forced depolymerization with similar efficacies but did not appear to compete for binding sites on actin. We also found that dystrophin binding to F-actin was markedly sensitive to increasing ionic strength, although utrophin binding was unaffected. Although dystrophin and utrophin are functionally homologous actin-binding proteins, these results indicate that their respective modes of contact with actin filaments are markedly different. Finally, we reassessed the abundance of dystrophin in striated muscle using full-length protein as the standard and measured greater than 10-fold higher values than previously reported.Dystrophin and utrophin are homologous proteins with similar interacting partners. By providing a link between the actin cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrix, dystrophin functions to maintain the integrity of the cell membrane during muscle contraction. Consequently, genetic ablation of dystrophin leads to increased fragility in the muscle membrane and results in the pathologies observed in Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies and some forms of cardiomyopathy. The functional role of utrophin is not completely understood. However, utrophin overexpression in the dystrophin-deficient mdx mouse has been shown to correct all known parameters of the dystrophic phenotype (1). Notably, utrophin overexpression rescued the mechanical linkage between costameric actin and the sarcolemma of the dystrophin-deficient mdx mouse muscle (2).Like other members of the spectrin superfamily of proteins, both dystrophin and utrophin interact with actin via the amino-terminal tandem calponin homology (CH) 2 actin-binding domain (3-6). Additionally, in both dystrophin and utrophin, the spectrin-like repeats of the rod domain have been shown to contribute to actin binding. According to our recent study, the first 10 spectrin-like repeats of utrophin increase the affinity and capacity of its amino-terminal domain for actin (7). The actin binding activity of the homologous region of dystrophin has not been investigated yet. However,...