ANK2

Ankyrin-2, also known as Ankyrin-B, and Brain ankyrin, is a protein which in humans is encoded by the ANK2 gene. Ankyrin-2 is ubiquitously expressed, but shows high expression in cardiac muscle. Ankyrin-2 plays an essential role in the localization and membrane stabilization of ion transporters and ion channels in cardiomyocytes, as well as in costamere structures. Mutations in ANK2 cause a dominantly-inherited, cardiac arrhythmia syndrome known as long QT syndrome 4 as well as sick sinus syndrome; mutations have also been associated to a lesser degree with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Alterations in ankyrin-2 expression levels are observed in human heart failure.

==Structure== Ankyrin-B protein is around 220 kDa, with several isoforms. The ANK2 gene is approximately 560 kb in size and consists of 53 exons on human chromosome 4; ANK2 is also transcriptionally regulated via over 30 alternative splicing events with variable expression of isoforms in cardiac muscle. Ankyrin-B is a member of the ankyrin family of proteins, and is a modular protein which is composed of three structural domains: an N-terminal domain containing multiple ankyrin repeats; a central region with a highly conserved spectrin binding domain and death domain; and a C-terminal regulatory domain which is the least conserved and subject to variation, and determines ankyrin-B activity. The membrane-binding region of ankyrin-B is composed of 24 consecutive ankyrin repeats, and it is the membrane-binding domain of ankyrins that confer functional differences among ankyrin isoforms. Though ubiquitously expressed, ankyrin-B shows high expression levels in cardiac muscle, and is expressed 10-fold lower levels in skeletal muscle, suggesting that ankyrin-B plays a specifically adapted functional role in cardiac muscle.