Ferritin: design and formation of an iron-storage molecule

Abstract

Although essential for most forms of life, too much iron is harmful. To cope with these antagonistic phenomena an iron-storage molecule, ferritin, has evolved. The structure of horse spleen apoferritin, which has recently been refined, consists of 24 symmetrically related subunits forming a near-spherical hollow shell. In ferritin the central cavity is occupied by an iron core of 'ferrihydrite', a geologically ephemeral mineral found in hot or cold springs and in mine workings, or produced in the laboratory by heating solutions of ferric salts. Ferritin itself forms most readily from apoferritin, in the presence of dioxygen, from FeII, not FeIII. Access to its interior is through small intersubunit channels, and the protein influences both the rate of FeII-oxidation and the form of oxide produced.