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.