Involvement of spectrin in membrane fusion: induction of fusion in human erythrocyte ghosts by proteolytic enzymes and its inhibition by antispectrin antibody.

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Abstract
Unlike intact human erythrocytes, human erythrocyte ghosts can be agglutinated but not fused by Sendai virus. Membrane fusion can be induced in virus-agglutinated erythrocyte ghosts by addition of proteolytic enzymes such as trypsin, papain or Pronase. When erythrocyte ghosts were reacted with antispectrin antiserum, the antiserum inhibited both the induction of fusion and the proteolysis of the membrane spectrin. The correlation between the membrane fusion process and the membrane cytoskeleton is discussed.