Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Healthy red blood cells owe their shape to muscle-like structures

04/04/2018

Healthy red blood cells owe their shape to muscle-like structures Discovery by Scripps Research scientists may offer insight into treating blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia

Left to right: Researchers Velia Fowler, Alyson Smith and Roberta Nowak led the new study at The Scripps Research Institute (Photo by Don Boomer)

LA JOLLA, CA April 4, 2018 Red blood cells are on a wild ride. As they race through the body to deliver oxygen, they must maintain a distinct dimpled shape and bounce back into form even after squishing through narrow capillaries. Red blood cells that can't keep their shape are associated with diseases like sickle cell anemia.

In a new study, Velia Fowler, PhD, and her lab at The Scripps Research Institute report that a protein called myosin IIA contracts to give red blood cells their distinctive shape. The findings, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could shed light on sickle cell diseases and other disorders where red blood cells are deformed.

Red blood cells have been studied for centuries, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions about how they adopt their shape, says Alyson Smith, graduate student at Scripps Research and co-first author of the study. Our study adds an important piece to this puzzle.

Red blood cells look like puffy disks with concave dimples on top and bottom. But the blood cells of people with certain disorders take on other shapes. In severe forms of sickle cell diseases, genetic disorders most common among people of African descent, the cells are shaped like crescent moons or sickles.

These misshapen cells are rigid and sticky, causing them to become stuck in blood vessels, which prevent the blood from carrying oxygen throughout the body, causing anemia. About 300,000 children are born with sickle cell anemia each year, and there is currently no cure for these disorders.

Scientists have long wondered how healthy red blood cells maintain their dimpled shape, and whether it is a passive or active process. Are they just like rubber inner tubes that passively bounce back to their former shape after being squeezed or bumped? Or is something mechanical in the cell membrane the outer skin of the cell actively contracting and relaxing to maintain the shape? Answering these questions could also help explain what goes wrong when red blood cells are too rigid to deform easily as they flow through blood vessels.

Smith and Roberta Nowak, a research assistant, led the work to solve this puzzle, which had piqued Fowler's interest since she was a postdoctoral researcher in the 1980s. They found that red blood cells actively regulate their shape, thanks to myosin IIA which is related to the protein that drives muscle contraction in other parts of the body.

The team used advanced microscopes at Scripps Research to capture 3D images showing myosin IIA under the cell membrane. The researchers found that red blood cell myosin IIA molecules assemble into barbell-shaped structures called filaments. Specialized regions at both ends of the myosin IIA filaments can pull on a membrane-associated structural protein called actin to control the stiffness of the cell membrane.

You need active contraction on the cell membrane, similar to how muscles contract, says Fowler. The myosin pulls on the actin to provide tension in the membrane, and then that tension maintains the biconcave shape.

The team then treated red blood cells with a compound called blebbistatin, which stops myosin from working properly. They found that the treated cells lost their ability to maintain a shape and looked floppy and unhealthy. This further confirmed that myosin IIA is important for maintain red blood cell shape.

Understanding the architecture of the membrane is an important step toward finding the causes of diseases where red blood cells are deformed. Fowler says there might be a chance someday to inhibit myosin IIA in red blood cells and restore some of elasticity they lose in sickle cell anemia, letting them bend and fit through capillaries.

Even just a small change in those sickle cells might be enough, says Nowak, who served as study co-first author with Smith.

This view of red blood cell shape has sparked many new questions. The study suggests that cells use a process called phosphorylation to make the myosin IIA filaments on the cell membrane more stable but how this process is controlled remains a mystery. Going forward, the researchers hope to learn more about what regulates myosin IIA's activity in red blood cells and even other cell types, like neurons.

The study, Myosin IIA interacts with the spectrin-actin membrane skeleton to control red blood cell membrane curvature and deformability, included authors from the Rochester Institute of Technology, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra-Northwell.

The work was supported by the Whitaker Foundation, the National Institutes of Health (grants GM34225, HL083464, HL134043 and HL126497), a National Science Foundation award (CBET 1560709), the NIH/NCATS CTSA Award (grant UL1 TR001114) to the Scripps Translational Science Institute, and an Allied World St. Baldrick's Scholar Award.

About The Scripps Research Institute

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is one of the worlds largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. TSRI is internationally recognized for its contributions to science and health, including its role in laying the foundation for new treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, and other diseases. An institution that evolved from the Scripps Metabolic Clinic founded by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1924, the institute now employs more
LINK: http://www.scripps.edu/news/press/2018/20180404_blood_genetics.html...
See more stories from scripps

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

07/07/2026

DAS Disputes Wiegels 3.0 EAS Limitations

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

LiveU to Showcase Q Era Innovations at 2026 IBC Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

LucidLink Unifies Adobe Frame.io, Enterprise Storage

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

ARRI Introduces ALEXA 35 Live Xtreme Camera

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Riedel and ARRI Bring Cinematic Live Production to the Eu...

Riedel Communications and ARRI played a key role in one of the most technically ambitious Eurovision Song Contest productions to date. For the first time in the...

07/07/2026

Berklee Valencia Honors Eric Whitacre at the 2026 Commencement Ceremony

Berklee Valencia Honors Eric Whitacre at the 2026 Commencement Ceremony The Grammy-winning composer was celebrated alongside this years cohort of masters degr...

07/07/2026

Disagreements Abound Over the Adequacy of C-Band Replacements

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Cameras Become More Connected to Production Workflows

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

NFL on TV: Time to Move the Regulatory Goal Posts?

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Building a Future-Ready Facility for Tomorrow's Broadcasters

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Rewriting the Control Room: How Broadcasters Are Going Remote

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Fincons Group appoints Andrea Fravega as Global BU Media...

The appointment will drive growth and innovation across the Media Business Unit Fincons Group, a leading IT business consultancy and systems integrator company...

07/07/2026

Big Blue Marble debuts next-gen ultra low latency MoQ str...

International broadcast and streaming expert Big Blue Marble has announced a multi-month Proof of Concept (PoC) for Media over QUIC (MoQ) during a major interna...

07/07/2026

Leader provides Test and Measurement for global broadcast...

Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics of Europe, is proud to announce that two of its leading products, the PHABRIX Qx rasterizer and LeaderPhabrix L...

07/07/2026

Clear-Com Powers Ross Production Services Mobile Producti...

Clear-Com announced that Ross Production Services (RPS), a leading provider of mobile production solutions for live events and broadcasts, has standardized on ...

07/07/2026

Q Era Innovations Take Center Stage for LiveU at IBC2026

LiveU redefined live newsgathering with the invention of cellular bonding. At IBC2026, Stand 7.C24, the company will show how that foundation is evolving into t...

07/07/2026

Camera to Cloud Meets Camera to Timeline LucidLink Unifi...

LucidLink, a leader in cloud-based file services for content creators, today announced an enhanced workflow integration between LucidLink and Adobe Frame.io tha...

07/07/2026

Comcast's Sky to Acquire ITV Media and Entertainment

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

Digital Alert Systems Details ATSC 3.0 EAS Capabilities to FCC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/07/2026

New appointments to Screen Australia board

New appointments to Screen Australia board 7 July 2026 The Albanese Labor Government has made new appointments to the Screen Australia board. Dr Tania Chamber...

07/07/2026

The right team. The right time.' How The Killings at Parrish Station stuck to their creative guns.

The right team. The right time.' How The Killings at Parrish Station stuck t...

07/07/2026

Patrick Kielty in The Late Late Chair until 2028

To Whom It Concerns RT today confirmed that Patrick Kielty is to extend his contract as host of The Late Late Show. Last season, the world's longest-runn...

07/07/2026

AI Innovators Adopt NVIDIA Vera - Why Max Single-Threaded CPU at Scale Matters

Max single-threaded CPUs at scale are a new category of CPUs built for the agentic AI era. Across the creation and deployment of an agentic system, the CPU is...

07/07/2026

July 06, 2026

Scripps Research scientists train the immune system to make antibodies against numerous HIV strains Preclinical findings mark progress toward a long-sought vacc...

06/07/2026

Inside OneSoccer's FIFA World Cup Ops: Canada's Soccer Network Goes Behind the Scenes for CanMNT's Historic Moment

Long-developed relationships and informal access, three production models, and c...

06/07/2026

Lumine Group Acquires Imagine Communications, Continues To Build Portfolio of Media Businesses

The deal follows Lumine's recent acquisition of Synamedia's video-networ...

06/07/2026

SVG All-Stars: Stuart Mitchell, Senior Coordinating Producer, Spectrum SportsNet LA

This former SportsCenter producer is shaping local-team studio coverage to surro...

06/07/2026

Case Study: How IMS Productions and FOX Sports Scaled Coverage of the 109th Indianapolis 500

IMS Productions and FOX Sports deployed more than 100 cameras, 32 onboard feeds,...

06/07/2026

Lumine Group Completes Acquisition of Synamedias Video Network Business

Lumine Group Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of the Video Network Business from Synamedia. The business will operate as a standalone compan...

06/07/2026

NASCAR and Motorsport Network Announce Content and Commercial Partnership

NASCAR has announced a content and commercial partnership with Motorsport Network, a motorsports and automotive media platform, to distribute NASCAR original co...

06/07/2026

Versant To Acquire Full Swing for Approximately $530 Million

Versant Media Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company, from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investor...

06/07/2026

DAZN Secures Global Rights to 3ICE Hockey

DAZN has announced global broadcast rights to 3ICE, a professional hockey format featuring three skaters and a goalkeeper per side, with no power plays or offsi...

06/07/2026

Synth Anthology 5 From UVI

Bundle gains 100 new synths & more Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...

06/07/2026

MOTU 16A, 848 & 10pre gain Milan certification

Available now via free firmware update MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...

06/07/2026

Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Communications System

Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...

06/07/2026

The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the quality of packaged goods in real time

The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...

06/07/2026

INVITATION FOR SOUTH AFRICAN FILMMAKERS TO SUBMIT FILMS FOR THE 99TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS (OSCARS) INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM CATEGORY

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...

06/07/2026

Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice President, Operations

Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...

06/07/2026

Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development

Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development Brie Clayton July 6, 2026 0 Comments The strategic new appointment supports...

06/07/2026

Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve

Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve Michael Cioni July 6, 2026 0 Comments This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...

06/07/2026

Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro

Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro Colin Smith July 6, 2026 0 Comments Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...

06/07/2026

Flavor's FirstEver Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Executive Producer Kate Smith Rises to Lead the Studio

Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...

06/07/2026

How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat

How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...

06/07/2026

Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with the first drop

Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...

06/07/2026

NVIDIA and Hugging Face Bring New Models and Frameworks to LeRobot for the Open Robotics Community

Open source AI has shown how quickly developers can innovate when models, data a...

06/07/2026

Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy

Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy intellisphereinsyght2026 6 July Written By Suzanne Costello Sydney, Australia - 06 July 2026 T...