Spectrin is an actin crosslinking and molecular scaffold protein that links the plasma membrane to the actin cytoskeleton, and functions in the determination of cell shape, arrangement of transmembrane proteins, and organization of organelles. It is a tetramer made up of alpha-beta dimers linked in a head-to-head arrangement. This gene is one member of a family of alpha-spectrin genes. The encoded protein is primarily composed of 22 spectrin repeats which are involved in dimer formation. It