It appears that apparent unrelated positions in AE1 membrane spanning domain are susceptible to impair anion exchange function in the same way: point mutations L687P, D705Y, S731P, H734R, S762R, and G796R abolish anion exchange and induce a similar monovalent cation leak that is also similar to the cation leak observed in cells expressing the mutated AE1 responsible for South East Asian Ovalocytosis (SAO AE1) [21]. Here, SLC4A1 is linked to southeast Asian ovalocytosis.