A model of spectrin as a concertina in the erythrocyte membrane skeleton.
To maintain its distinctive biconcave shape, the erythrocyte has a skeleton composed largely of the protein spectrin, which associates closely and exclusively with the cell membrane. Although the membrane skeleton forms through specific protein-protein interactions of defined stoichiometry, it has a flexible structure and organization due to the unusual molecular properties of spectrin. Here we describe these properties and propose a model to account for the extensibility of spectrin and for its organization in the skeleton.
Bloch
R J
RJ
Department of Physiology University of Maryland School of Medicine, 660 W. Redwood Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Pumplin
D W
DW