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

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Abstract
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 solubilized ankyrin-linked band 3, but not to free band 3. A portion of band 3 remains firmly associated with detergent-extracted cytoskeletal proteins. A fraction of band 3 is attached to the erythrocyte cytoskeleton through association with ankyrin, which in turn is bound to spectrin.