ArticlePLoS computational biology2015
The Physiological Molecular Shape of Spectrin: A Compact Supercoil Resembling a Chinese Finger Trap.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- External mechanical force drives axonal cytoskeletal rearrangements.Current biology : CB · 2026Article
- Protocadherin 20 Is a POU Class 2 Homeobox 3 Target Gene Required for Proper Tuft Cell Microvillus Organization.Cellular and molecular gastroenterology and hepatology · 2026Article
- Paralemmin-1 controls the nanoarchitecture of the neuronal submembrane cytoskeleton.Science advances · 2025Article
- Axonal Mechanotransduction Drives Cytoskeletal Responses to Physiological Mechanical Forces.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Stomatocyte-discocyte-echinocyte transformations of erythrocyte modulated by membrane-cytoskeleton mechanical properties.Biophysical journal · 2025Article
- Critical role of alpha spectrin in DNA repair: the importance of μ-calpain and Fanconi anemia proteins.Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.) · 2025Review
- Molecular consequences of SCA5 mutations in the spectrin-repeat domains of β-III-spectrin.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Mechanical characterization of spectrin at the molecular level.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Cytoskeletal assembly in axonal outgrowth and regeneration analyzed on the nanoscale.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- A particle-based computational model to analyse remodelling of the red blood cell cytoskeleton during malaria infections.PLoS computational biology · 2022Article
- Nanoscale dynamics of actin filaments in the red blood cell membrane skeleton.Molecular biology of the cell · 2022Article
- Plastin and spectrin cooperate to stabilize the actomyosin cortex during cytokinesis.Current biology : CB · 2021Article
- Constitutive Model of Erythrocyte Membranes with Distributions of Spectrin Orientations and Lengths.Biophysical journal · 2020Article
- Complementary mesoscale dynamics of spectrin and acto-myosin shape membrane territories during mechanoresponse.Nature communications · 2020Article
- Structural and Functional Refinement of the Axon Initial Segment in Avian Cochlear Nucleus during Development.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2020Article
- A Fresh Look at the Structure, Regulation, and Functions of Fodrin.Molecular and cellular biology · 2020Review
- The membrane periodic skeleton is an actomyosin network that regulates axonal diameter and conduction.eLife · 2020Article
- Actin-spectrin scaffold supports open fenestrae in liver sinusoidal endothelial cells.Traffic (Copenhagen, Denmark) · 2019Article
- The Spectrinome: The Interactome of a Scaffold Protein Creating Nuclear and Cytoplasmic Connectivity and Function.Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.) · 2019Review
- The functional importance of lamins, actin, myosin, spectrin and the LINC complex in DNA repair.Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.) · 2019Review
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The primary, secondary, and tertiary structures of spectrin are reasonably well defined, but the structural basis for the known dramatic molecular shape change, whereby the molecular length can increase three-fold, is not understood. In this study, we combine previously reported biochemical and high-resolution crystallographic data with structural mass spectroscopy and electron microscopic data to derive a detailed, experimentally-supported quaternary structure of the spectrin heterotetramer. In addition to explaining spectrin's physiological resting length of ~55-65 nm, our model provides a mechanism by which spectrin is able to undergo a seamless three-fold extension while remaining a linear filament, an experimentally observed property. According to the proposed model, spectrin's quaternary structure and mechanism of extension is similar to a Chinese Finger Trap: at shorter molecular lengths spectrin is a hollow cylinder that extends by increasing the pitch of each spectrin repeat, which decreases the internal diameter. We validated our model with electron microscopy, which demonstrated that, as predicted, spectrin is hollow at its biological resting length of ~55-65 nm. The model is further supported by zero-length chemical crosslink data indicative of an approximately 90 degree bend between adjacent spectrin repeats. The domain-domain interactions in our model are entirely consistent with those present in the prototypical linear antiparallel heterotetramer as well as recently reported inter-strand chemical crosslinks. The model is consistent with all known physical properties of spectrin, and upon full extension our Chinese Finger Trap Model reduces to the ~180-200 nm molecular model currently in common use.
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