Figure 5.
Organization of the membrane skeletons of WT and Rac1–/–;Rac2–/– erythrocytes. Micrographs of representative metal cast of a WT and a Rac1–/–;Rac2–/– unroofed erythrocyte. (A) The membrane skeleton of the WT erythrocyte is composed of a uniform lattice of interconnected strands, as previously reported.36 Rac1–/–;Rac2–/– membrane skeletons revealed irregularity of the hexagonal spectrin scaffold and a paucity of membrane “endovesiculations.” Scale bar represents 100 nm. (B) In higher magnification, the arrowheads point to large clusters in the Rac1–/–;Rac2–/– cytoskeleton that appear to have the same “globular” consistency with the junctions in the WT cytoskeleton. Scale bar represents 100 nm.