THE SELF-ASSOCIATION OF OVINE ERYTHROCYTE SPECTRIN

1. Spectrin extracted from ovine erythrocyte membranes at low temperat ure shows association behaviour similar to that reported for human and bovine erythrocytes. 2. The spectrin tetramer is the predominant olig omer, the dimer is well represented, and smaller amounts of hexamer an d higher oligomers are present. 3. The estimates of parameters describ ing the self-association of purified ovine spectrin studied by sedimen tation equilibrium analysis were found to be indistinguishable from th ose obtained for human spectrin under the same conditions, within the precision of the measurements. 4. The data suggest that the cooperativ e isodesmic model may be general for spectrin, and not a peculiarity o f the human.