ABSTRACT
The cortical cytoskeleton of the vertebrate erythrocyte is an interconnecting meshwork formed by oligomerization of the major component, spectrin, and by associations between spectrin and actin [1–3]. The rodlike spectrin dimer endto-end associates to form tetramers and by further addition of dimers, higher oligomers [4]. At the end of spectrin opposite to the oligomerization site, spectrin associates with actin [5–9]. In the erythrocyte, spectrin and actin are tightly bound to the plasma membrane. This association is mediated by proteins that serve to link spectrin to transmembrane protein receptors [1–3]. Spectrin, in the absence of actin, binds with high affinity to the membrane through an interaction with ankyrin, which in turn associates with the anion channel band 3 [1] •
