Spectrin alpha Chain Non-erythrocytic 1 (SPTAN1, Alpha-II Spectrin, SPTA2, Fodrin alpha Chain, NEAS, Spectrin Non-erythroid alpha Subunit)

The spectrin family of proteins were originally discovered as major components of the submembraneous cytoskeleton of osmotically lyzed red blood cells (1). The lyzed blood cells could be seen as clear red blood cell shaped objects in the light microscope and were referred to as red cell "ghosts". The major proteins of these ghosts proved to be actin, ankyrin, band 4.1 and several other proteins, including two major bands running at about 240kD and 260kD on SDS-PAGE gels. This pair of bands was named "spectrin" since they were discovered in these red blood cell ghosts (1). Later work showed that...