Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1998 Aug 7;432(3):213-8.
doi: 10.1016/s0014-5793(98)00867-9.

How the presence of three iron binding sites affects the iron storage function of the ferritin (EcFtnA) of Escherichia coli

A Treffry  1 , Z Zhao, M A Quail, J R Guest, P M Harrison
Affiliations
Free article

How the presence of three iron binding sites affects the iron storage function of the ferritin (EcFtnA) of Escherichia coli

A Treffry et al. FEBS Lett. .
Free article

Abstract

The iron storage proteins, ferritins, are found in all organisms which use iron. Here iron storage processes in the Escherichia coli ferritin (EcFtnA) are compared with those in human H-type ferritin (HuHF). Both proteins contain dinuclear iron centres that enable the rapid oxidation of 2 Fe(II) by O2. The presence of a third iron binding site in EcFtnA, although not essential for fast oxidation, causes the O2/Fe ratio to increase from 2 to 3-4. In EcFtnA the rate of iron oxidation falls markedly after the oxidation of 48 Fe(II) atoms/molecule probably because some of it remains at the oxidation site. However a compensatory physiological advantage is conferred because this iron is more readily available to meet the cell's needs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources