Description: Ankyrins are a family of proteins that are believed to link the integral membrane proteins to the underlying spectrin-actin cytoskeleton and play key roles in activities such as cell motility, activation, proliferation, contact and the maintenance of specialized membrane domains. Multiple isoforms of ankyrin with different affinities for various target proteins are expressed in a tissue-specific, developmentally regulated manner. Most ankyrins are typically composed of three structural domains: an amino-terminal domain containing multiple ankyrin repeats; a central region with a highly conserved spectrin binding domain; and a carboxy-terminal regulatory domain which is the least conserved and subject to variation. Ankyrin 2 is the major ankyrin protein in the brain. It is a distinct gene product from ankyrin 1, with which it shares similarity in the amino-terminal ankyrin repeat and the spectrin binding domains; however, the carboxy-terminus is unique. Alternatively spliced transcripts, encoding different isoforms of ankyrin 2, have been described.