Alpha actinins belong to the spectrin gene superfamily which represents a diverse group of cytoskeletal proteins, including the alpha and beta spectrins and dystrophins. Alpha actinin is an actin-binding protein with multiple roles in different cell types.. There are four tissue-specific α-actinins, namely α-actinin-1, α-actinin-2, α-actinin-3 and α-actinin-4, which are localized to muscle and non-muscle cells, including skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle cells, as well as within the cytoskeleton.This gene encodes a muscle-specific, alpha actinin isoform that is expressed in both skeletal and cardiac muscles.
