Spectra B chain/A0010

Spectra B chain, also known as A0010, is part of the spectrin class of proteins.

Spectra B chain, also known as A0010, is part of the spectrin class of proteins. It is found to be part of the post-synaptic density, post-synaptic proteome and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor complex synaptic proteomes, yet does not appear to be part of the activator-recruited co-factor complex. A single nucleotide polymorphism has been shown to bring about dominant hereditary spherocytosis, yet does not seem to produce a nervous effect. Northern blot analysis has shown that it is most highly expressed in the lung but is expressed in progressively lower amounts in the kidney, brain, thymus, heart, and liver. Western blot analysis at the cytosolic and membranous levels has shown that there are particular spectrin beta proteins produced in the membranous fraction of the brain, hence showing some tissue specificity in its function. Spectra B chain has many domains, including plecstrin homology parts, with links to lipid-mediated pathways. Perhaps it is a control or cross-roads, through which many pathways communicate and regulate one another. This will be an interesting area of future research. It is also a cytoskeletal structural component, so could play a role in the cytoskeleton, yet how trivial or important this role is yet to be determined. It could mediate dendritic cell shape for it binds actin and hence alters cell geometry, which has been shown to affect and influence later signaling events, perhaps pertinent to the phenomenon of long-term potentiation (LTP) in many brain systems.