The membrane attachment protein for spectrin is associated with band 3 in human erythrocyte membranes

Ankyrin, the membrane attachment protein for human erythrocyte spectrin, is tightly linked in a 1:1 molar ratio with band 3 in detergent extracts of spectrin-depleted membranes.

Ankyrin-linked band 3, which represents 10–15% of the total band 3, spans the membrane, and is nearly identical to the major band 3 by peptide analysis. Spectrin binds to solubilised

ankyrin-linked band 3, but not to free band 3. A portion of band 3 remains firmly associated with detergent-extracted cytoskeletal proteins. It is concluded that a fraction of band 3 is

attached to the erythrocyte cytoskeleton through association with ankyrin, which in turn is bound to spectrin.

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