Measurements of integral membrane protein lateral mobility and rotational mobility have been separately used to investigate dynamic protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions that underlie plasma membrane structure and function. In model bilayer membranes, the mobilities of reconstituted proteins depend on the size of the diffusing molecule and the viscosity of the lipid bilayer. There are no direct tests, however, of the relationship between mechanisms that control protein lateral mobility and rotational mobility in intact biological membranes. We have measured the lateral and rotational mobility of band 3 in spectrin-deficient red blood cells from patients with hereditary spherocytosis and hereditary pyropoikilocytosis. Our data suggest that band 3 lateral mobility is regulated by the spectrin content of the red cell membrane. In contrast, band 3 rotational mobility is unaffected by changes in spectrin content. Band 3 lateral mobility and rotational mobility must therefore be controlled by different molecular mechanisms. (J. Clin. Invest. 1994. 94:683-688.) Key words: erythrocyte membrane * hereditary spherocytosis -hereditary pyropoikilocytosis fluorescence photobleaching recovery polarized fluorescence depletion

Band 3 aggregation in the plane of the red blood cell (RBC) membrane is postulated to be important in the pathophysiology of hemolysis of dense sickle and normal RBCs. We used the fluorescence photobleaching recovery and polarized fluorescence depletion techniques to measure the lateral and rotational mobility of band 3, glycophorins, and phospholipid analogues in membranes of density-separated intact RBCs from seven patients with sickle cell disease and eight normal controls. The fractions of laterally mobile band 3 and glycophorin decreased progressively as sickle RBC density increased. Normal RBCs also showed a progressive decrease in band 3 fractional mobility with increasing buoyant density. Rapidly rotating, slowly rotating, and rotationally immobile forms of band 3 were observed in both sickle and normal RBC membranes. The fraction of rapidly rotating band 3 progressively decreased and the fraction of rotationally immobile band 3 progressively increased with increasing sickle RBC density. Changes in the fraction of rotationally immobile band 3 were not reversible upon hypotonic swelling of dense sickle RBCs, and normal RBCs osmotically shrunken in sucrose buffers failed to manifest band 3 immobilization at median cell hemoglobin concentration values characteristic of dense sickle RBCs. We conclude that dense sickle and normal RBCs acquire irreversible membrane abnormalities that cause transmembrane protein immobilization and band 3 aggregation. Band 3 aggregates could serve as cell surface sites of autologous antibody binding and thereby lead to removal of dense sickle and normal (senescent)

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Band 4.2 is a human erythrocyte membrane protein of incompletely characterized structure and function. Erythrocytes deficient in band 4.2 protein were used to examine the functional role of band 4.2 in intact erythrocyte membranes. Both the lateral and the rotational mobilities of band 3 were increased in band 4.2-deficient erythrocytes compared to control cells. In contrast, the lateral mobility of neither glycophorins nor a fluorescent phospholipid analog was altered in band 4.2-deficient cells. Compared to controls, band 4.2-deficient erythrocytes manifested a decreased ratio of band 3 to spectrin, and band 4.2-deficient membrane skeletons had decreased extractability of band 3 under low-salt conditions. Normal band 4.2 was found to bind to spectrin in solution and to promote the binding of spectrin to ankyrin-stripped inside-out vesicles. We conclude that band 4.2 provides low-affinity binding sites for both band 3 oligomers and spectrin dimers on the human erythrocyte membrane. Band 4.2 may serve as an accessory linking protein between the membrane skeleton and the overlying lipid bilayer.

Southeast Asian ovalocytosis (SAO) is an asymptomatic trait characterized by rigid, poorly deformable red cells that resist invasion by several strains of malaria parasites. The underlying molecular genetic defect involves simple heterozygous state for a mutant band 3 protein, which contains a deletion of amino acids 400 through 408, linked with a Lys 56-to-Glu substitution (band 3-Memphis polymorphism). To elucidate the contribution of the mutant SAO band 3 protein to increased SAO red blood cell (RBC) rigidity, we examined the participation of the mutant SAO band 3 protein in increased band 3 attachment to the skeleton and band 3 oligomerization. We found first that SAO RBC skeletons retained more band 3 than normal cells and that this increased retention preferentially involved the mutant SAO band 3 protein. Second, SAO RBCs contained a higher percentage of band 3 oligomer-ankyrin complexes than normal cells, and these oligomers were preferentially enriched by the mutant SAO protein. At the ultrastructural level, the increased oligomer formation of SAO RBCs was reflected by stacking of band 3-containing intramembrane particles (IMP) into longitudinal strands. The IMP stacking was not reversed by treating SAO RBCs in alkaline pH (pH 11), which is known to weaken ankyrin-band 3 interactions, or by removing the cytoplasmic domain of band 3 from SAO membranes with trypsin. Finally, we found that band 3 protein in intact SAO RBCs exhibited a markedly decreased rotational mobility, presumably reflecting the increased oligomerization and the membrane skeletal association of the SAO band 3 protein. We propose that the mutant SAO band 3 has an increased propensity to form oligomers, which appear as longitudinal strands of IMP and exhibit increased association with membrane skeleton. This band 3 oligomerization underlies the increase in membrane rigidity by precluding membrane skeletal extension, which is necessary for membrane deformation.