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 ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

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...

04/09/2026

Lightware expands LARA capabilities with new GUDE driver

Lightware is expanding its LARA (Lightware Advanced Room Automation) platform with the GUDE Power Distribution Units (PDU) driver module. GUDE devices can now b...

04/09/2026

People Behind the Technology - How Lightware Invests in W...

Lightware shares the second release in its ESG communications series. Following the first piece, which focused on the companys environmental performance, this r...

04/09/2026

Big Blue Marble delivers record 10 Tbps for European publ...

Big Blue Marble supported a leading European public service broadcaster in delivering the Soccer World Cup 2026 streams, supplying more than 10 Tbps of bandwidt...

04/09/2026

Hitomi MatchBox Glass is honoured with Emmy Award

Outstanding achievement in engineering, science and technology Hitomi Broadcast has been recognised with an Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy from the Ac...

04/09/2026

California, Hollywood at a Crossroads

California, Hollywood at a Crossroads Andy Marken September 3, 2026 0 Comments I'm doing everything alone. Crossing roads alone. Seeing the Eiffe...

04/09/2026

Berklee Announces Winners of 2026 SongwritersdB Songwriting Contest

Berklee Announces Winners of 2026 SongwritersdB Songwriting Contest Students Luca Alexandru, Annika Wild, and Johanna James received the top prizes for origin...

04/09/2026

EVS, Matrox Partner on EBUs Dynamic Media Facility Initiative

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/09/2026

TAG Video Systems Unveils TAG Blue

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/09/2026

Orlando Magic and Gray Media Ink Full Season Broadcast Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/09/2026

RT ANNOUNCE NEW DRAMA THE MURDER OF MR. MOONLIGHT BASED ON THE DISAPPEARANCE AND MURDER OF BOBBY RYAN

RT ANNOUNCE NEW DRAMA THE MURDER OF MR. MOONLIGHT BASED ON THE DISAPPEARANCE...

03/09/2026

Yospace releases new Ad Presentation solution, unlocking revenue opportunities with non-linear ad formats

Yospace will be at IBC from 11th - 14th September (booth 5.C78). For more inform...

03/09/2026

Creative Technology Group Announces Leadership Transition Effective January 2027

NEP Group has announced leadership changes at Creative Technology Group. Founder and CEO Graham Andrews will step away from day-to-day leadership at the end of ...

03/09/2026

NFL and TikTok Renew Multi-Year Partnership

The NFL and TikTok have announced a multi-year partnership renewal expanding the league's presence on the platform. NFL posts on TikTok increased more than ...

03/09/2026

Grass Valley Appoints Ronny Van Geel as Vice President, Cameras

Grass Valley has appointed Ronny Van Geel as Vice President, Cameras. Van Geel began his career in 1999 at Philips DVS and moved into product management in 2005...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Telestream to Preview Vantage Super Resolution

Telestream has announced Vantage Super Resolution, an AI-powered upscaling capability for the Vantage media workflow platform, developed in collaboration with N...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Solid State Logic TCA Tour

Solid State Logic (SSL) will debut the TCA Tour at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand 8.B45), a portable production system built from System T components in a desktop frame...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: DPA Microphones Launches 6388 CORE+ Headset Microphone

DPA Microphones has announced the 6388 CORE Headset Microphone, making its debut at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand D60). The supercardioid headset features a physicall...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Qvest to Demonstrate Multi-Vendor Dynamic Media Facility Showcase

Qvest will present a multi-vendor Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) showcase at IBC2026 (Booth 10.C24), demonstrating how the EBU's DMF architecture can be imple...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Imagine Communications Debuts Magellan PanelFlex

Imagine Communications will showcase the Magellan PanelFlex control surface and other control portfolio updates at IBC2026 (Stand 1.B73, RAI Amsterdam, Septembe...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Bridge Technologies Launches Software-Based VB440 Deployment Option

Bridge Technologies will announce at IBC2026 (Booth 1.A71) that its VB440 production probe is now available as a software-based solution, deployable on commerci...

03/09/2026

Audio-Technica Launches BP350ST Mid-Side Stereo Microphone in Two Variants

Audio-Technica has unveiled the BP350ST MS (mid-side) microphone in two versions: the camera-mount BP350ST-UL and the boundary or gooseneck-mountable BP350ST-UB...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Jnger Audio flexAI Adds CastCompanion, 12G-SDI, NDI, and TVU MediaMesh Integration

Telos Alliance will introduce updates to the J nger Audio flexAI audio processin...

03/09/2026

DUNKMAN to Expand in 2027 with Team Competitions, Junior Division, and Global Qualifiers

DUNKMAN, the professional dunk league founded by Shaquille O'Neal in partner...

03/09/2026

Orlando Magic Tap DAZN as DTC Streaming Partner, Will Join OTA Distribution Plans for 2026-27 Season

Orlando's WRDQ TV 27, WFTV Channel 9 previously named over-the-air broadcast...

03/09/2026

EverPass Media Expands NFL Agreement with Netflix for Commercial Venues

EverPass Media has announced a multi-year commercial distribution agreement with Netflix, expanding on an existing partnership that has delivered NFL Christmas ...

03/09/2026

Yahoo Sports and Apple TV Partner on MLB and MLS Alternate Broadcasts

Yahoo Sports and Apple TV have announced a partnership to deliver alternate broadcasts of select Friday Night Baseball and MLS games on the Yahoo Sports website...

03/09/2026

BIG EAST's Scott Hecht on the Evolution of Campus Production and What Comes Next

With another academic year underway, college athletic departments across the cou...

03/09/2026

ESPN Debuts Revamped, Cutting-Edge Studio W in Bristol as New Home to NFL Live, College Football, and More

Facility becomes permanent home of NFL Live on Sept. 9; centerpiece studio for c...

03/09/2026

Anthony Marinelli launches Bass DNA course

Create musical synth bass sounds from scratch Anthony Marinelli Music have recently announced the launch of Bass DNA, a new online course that teaches music...

03/09/2026

IK Multimedia unveil the Tonex Board

Most powerful Tonex hardware to date IK Multimedia's latest release introduces their most advanced Tonex hardware unit to date, combining their AI Machi...

03/09/2026

Penteo Audio Plugins announce Penteo 8

Upmix & downmix software upgraded Penteo Audio Plugins have announced that the latest version of their powerful upmix and downmix software is now available....

03/09/2026

Young talents begin their training at SGL Carbon in Germany

With the start of the new apprenticeship year, young talent has once again begun their professional careers at SGL Carbon's sites in Germany. Recently, the ...

03/09/2026

Calrec advances EBU's Dynamic Media Facility vision at IBC 2026

With the industry increasingly embracing hybrid, software-defined production models, Calrec will preview a series of Argo and ImPulseV software enhancements at ...

03/09/2026

NAB Backs Most Proposed EAS Changes at FCC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/09/2026

TiVo Expands FAST Channels, AI Discovery with Latest OS Update

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/09/2026

Eluvio Advances Content Fabric, AI at IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/09/2026

Haivision Adds Bonded 5G Cellular Support to Makito ONE

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/09/2026

Alex Pannell Joins Gravity Media as Chief Business Officer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/09/2026

AI-Media To Feature Multilingual AI Developments At IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/09/2026

Tuxera and ATTO collaborate to deliver blistering macOS n...

Recognizing the ever-increasing demands for media throughput in challenging environments like post-production, two leaders in network technology have worked tog...

03/09/2026

EVS and Matrox Video Join Forces to Accelerate Dynamic Me...

EVS, a leader in live video technology and production infrastructure solutions, and Matrox Video, a leader in software-defined media technology and IP-based vid...

03/09/2026

AJA Debuts OG-FiDO-4 openGear Four-Channel SDI/Fiber Conversion Cards

AJA Debuts OG-FiDO-4 openGear Four-Channel SDI/Fiber Conversion Cards Brie Clayton September 3, 2026 0 Comments New product family expands 12G-SDI and...

03/09/2026

Nice Touch launches V2 of its AI edit assistant for professional editors

Nice Touch launches V2 of its AI edit assistant for professional editors Brie Clayton September 3, 2026 0 Comments Built by two editors with twelve ye...

03/09/2026

Accedo and MediaKind Launch End-to-End Streaming Solution...

Accedo, a global provider of video streaming software and services, and MediaKind, a world-leading video technology company and the number one independent provi...

03/09/2026

14 Percent of live sports viewers have considered switchi...

International research from Big Blue Marble puts a consumer churn number against a technical failure, and sets out what streaming providers must fix before 2030...

03/09/2026

Broadpeak expands CDNaaS for streaming at scale with new...

High-performance points of presence power video streaming delivery to large audiences across Latin America with guaranteed quality of experience Broadpeak , a ...

03/09/2026

Dalia Delivers New Agentic Workflows Changing How Media W...

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, will unveil the next evolution of Dalia at IBC2026 (7.A43), its media-aware agent...