Ciuraszkiewicz Justyna, Biczycki Marian, Maluta Aleksandra, Martin Samuel, Watorek Wiesław, Olczak Mariusz
Laboratory of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology, Wrocław University, Tamka 2, 50-137 Wrocław, Poland.
Gene. 2007 Jul 1;396(1):28-38. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2007.02.018. Epub 2007 Mar 14.
Transferrins, found in invertebrates and vertebrates, form a physiologically important family of proteins playing a major role in iron acquisition and transport, defense against microbial pathogens, growth and differentiation. These proteins are bilobal in structure and each lobe is composed of two domains divided by a cleft harboring an iron atom. Vertebrate transferrins comprise of serotransferrins, lactoferrins and ovotransferrins. In mammals serotransferrins transport iron in physiological fluids and deliver it to cells, while lactoferrins scavenge iron, limiting its availability to invading microbes. In oviparous vertebrates there is only one transferrin gene, expressed either in the liver to be delivered to physiological fluids as serotransferrin, or in the oviduct with a final localization in egg white as ovotransferrin. Being products of one gene sero- and ovotransferrin are identical at the amino-acid sequence level but with different, cell specific glycosylation patterns. Our knowledge of the mechanisms of transferrin iron binding and release is based on sequence and structural data obtained for human serotransferrin and hen and duck ovotransferrins. No sequence information about other ovotransferrins was available until our recent publication of turkey, ostrich, and red-eared turtle (TtrF) ovotransferrin mRNA sequences [Ciuraszkiewicz, J., Olczak, M., Watorek, W., 2006. Isolation, cloning and sequencing of transferrins from red-eared turtle, African ostrich and turkey. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 143 B, 301-310]. In the present paper, ten new reptilian mRNA transferrin sequences obtained from the Nile crocodile (NtrF), bearded dragon (BtrF), Cuban brown anole (AtrF), veiled and Mediterranean chameleons (VtrF and KtrF), sand lizard (StrF), leopard gecko (LtrF), Burmese python (PtrF), African house snake (HtrF), and grass snake (GtrF) are presented and analyzed. Nile crocodile and red-eared turtle transferrins have a disulphide bridge pattern identical to known bird homologues. A partially different disulphide bridge pattern was found in the Squamata (snakes and lizards). The possibility of a unique interdomain disulphide bridge was predicted for LtrF. Differences were found in iron-binding centers from those of previously known transferrins. Substitutions were found in the iron-chelating residues of StrF and TtrF and in the synergistic anion-binding residues of NtrF. In snakes, the transferrin (PtrF, HtrF and GtrF) N-lobe "dilysine trigger" occurring in all other known transferrins was not found, which indicates a different mechanism of iron release.
转铁蛋白存在于无脊椎动物和脊椎动物中,构成了一个在生理上很重要的蛋白质家族,在铁的获取和运输、抵御微生物病原体、生长和分化过程中发挥着主要作用。这些蛋白质在结构上呈双叶状,每个叶由两个结构域组成,中间有一个容纳铁原子的裂隙。脊椎动物的转铁蛋白包括血清转铁蛋白、乳铁蛋白和卵转铁蛋白。在哺乳动物中,血清转铁蛋白在生理体液中运输铁并将其输送到细胞,而乳铁蛋白则清除铁,限制其对入侵微生物的可用性。在卵生脊椎动物中,只有一个转铁蛋白基因,该基因要么在肝脏中表达,以血清转铁蛋白的形式输送到生理体液中,要么在输卵管中表达,最终定位在蛋清中成为卵转铁蛋白。血清转铁蛋白和卵转铁蛋白作为一个基因的产物,在氨基酸序列水平上是相同的,但具有不同的、细胞特异性的糖基化模式。我们对转铁蛋白铁结合和释放机制的了解基于从人血清转铁蛋白以及鸡和鸭卵转铁蛋白获得的序列和结构数据。在我们最近发表火鸡、鸵鸟和红耳龟(TtrF)卵转铁蛋白mRNA序列[Ciuraszkiewicz, J., Olczak, M., Watorek, W., 2006. Isolation, cloning and sequencing of transferrins from red-eared turtle, African ostrich and turkey. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 143 B, 301 - 310]之前,没有关于其他卵转铁蛋白的序列信息。在本文中,展示并分析了从尼罗鳄(NtrF)、鬃狮蜥(BtrF)、古巴棕安乐蜥(AtrF)、蒙面变色龙和地中海变色龙(VtrF和KtrF)、砂蜥(StrF)、豹纹守宫(LtrF)、缅甸蟒(PtrF)、非洲家蛇(HtrF)和草蛇(GtrF)获得的10条新的爬行动物mRNA转铁蛋白序列。尼罗鳄和红耳龟的转铁蛋白具有与已知鸟类同源物相同的二硫键模式。在有鳞目动物(蛇和蜥蜴)中发现了部分不同的二硫键模式。预测LtrF存在独特的结构域间二硫键。发现其铁结合中心与先前已知的转铁蛋白不同。在StrF和TtrF以及NtrF的协同阴离子结合残基的铁螯合残基中发现了取代。在蛇中,未发现所有其他已知转铁蛋白中存在的转铁蛋白(PtrF、HtrF和GtrF)N叶“双赖氨酸触发”,这表明铁释放机制不同。