Association of spectrin with its membrane attachment site restricts lateral mobility of human erythrocyte integral membrane proteins

Interactions between spectrin and the inner surface of the human erythrocyte membrane have been implicated in the control of lateral mobility of the integral membrane proteins. We report here that incubation of “leaky” erythrocytes with a water-soluble proteolytic fragment containing the membrane attachment site for spectrin achieves a selective and controlled dissociation of spectrin from the membrane, and increases the rate of lateral mobility of fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled integral membrane proteins (> 70% of label in band 3 and PAS-1). Mobility of membrane proteins is measured as an increase in the percentage of uniformly fluorescent cells with time after fusion of fluorescent with nonfluorescent erythrocytes by Sendai virus. The cells are permeable to macromolecules since virus-fused erythrocytes lose most of their hemoglobin. The membrane attachment site for spectrin has been solubilized by limited proteolysis of inside-out erythrocyte vesicles and has been purified (V). Bennett, J Biol Chem 253:2292 (1978). This 72,000-dalton fragment binds to spectrin in solution, competitively inhibits association of ³²P-spectrin with inside-out vesicles with a K_i of 10^?7M, and causes rapid dissociation of ³²P-spectrin from vesicles. Both acid-treated 72,000-dalton fragment and the 45,000 dalton-cytoplasmic portion of band 3, which also was isolated from the proteolytic digest, have no effect on spectrin binding, release, or membrane protein mobility. The enhancement of membrane protein lateral mobility by the same polypeptide that inhibits binding of spectrin to inverted vesicles and displaces spectrin from these vesicles provides direct evidence that the interaction of spectrin with protein components in the membrane restricts the lateral mobility of integral membrane proteins in the erythrocyte.