Ankyrin 3, Node Of Ranvier (ANK3)

Ankyrin-3 is an immunologically distinct gene product from ankyrins ANK1 and ANK2, and was originally found at the axonal initial segment and nodes of Ranvier of neurons in the central and peripheral nervous systems. Alternatively spliced variants may be expressed in other tissues. Although multiple transcript variants encoding several different isoforms have been found for this gene, the full-length nature of only two have been characterized.ANK3 is a member of the ankyrin family of proteins that link the integral membrane proteins to the underlying spectrin-actin cytoskeleton. Ankyrins play key roles in activities such as cell motility, activation, proliferation, contact and the maintenance of specialized membrane domains.