title: Physico-chemical characterization of the spectrin tetramer from bovine erythrocyte membranes.
abstract: The tetramer of bovine spectrin has been purified and characterized in terms of its hydrodynamic and optical properties. (1) The molecular weight, from both sedimentation equilibrium and sedimentation velocity/diffusion measurements, is close to one million. (2) The hydrodynamic properties suggest a highly expanded but basically symmetrical molecule of Stokes radius 200 A. (3) Optical rotatory dispersion measurements indicate a high degree of order in the tertiary structure of the molecule. These results are not consistent with the assumption that is often made, that the spectrin molecule is a long fibrous rod.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001798:Blood Proteins; D002417:Cattle; D004910:Erythrocyte Membrane / Q000032:analysis*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000032:analysis*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009905:Optical Rotatory Dispersion; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation; D013049:Spectrin; D014461:Ultracentrifugation
chemical_list: D001798:Blood Proteins; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D013049:Spectrin