Abstract
Spectrin is a large, cytoskeletal, and heterodimeric protein composed of modular structure of α and β subunits, it typically contains 106 contiguous amino acid sequence motifs called “spectrin repeats”. Spectrin is crucial for maintaining the stability and structure of the cell membrane and the shape of a cell. Moreover, it contributes to diverse cell functions such as cell adhesion, cell spreading, and the cell cycle. Mutations of spectrin lead to various human diseases such as hereditary hemolytic anemia, type 5 spinocerebellar ataxia, cancer, as well as others. This review focuses on recent advances in determining the structure and function of spectrin as well as its role in disease.
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Zhang, R., Zhang, C., Zhao, Q. et al. Spectrin: Structure, function and disease. Sci. China Life Sci. 56, 1076–1085 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-013-4575-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-013-4575-0