Delft University of Technology, Department of Biotechnology, van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ Delft, The Netherlands.
Metallomics. 2017 Jun 21;9(6):595-605. doi: 10.1039/c7mt00124j.
Biochemistry of the essential element iron is complicated by radical chemistry associated with Fe(ii) ions and by the extremely low solubility of the Fe(iii) ion in near-neutral water. To mitigate these problems cells from all domains of life synthesize the protein ferritin to take up and oxidize Fe(ii) and to form a soluble storage of Fe(iii) from which iron can be made available for physiology. A long history of studies on ferritin has not yet resulted in a generally accepted mechanism of action of this enzyme. In fact strong disagreement exists between extant ideas on several key steps in the workings of ferritin. The scope of this review is to explain the experimental background of these controversies and to indicate directions towards their possible resolution.
铁这种必需元素的生物化学十分复杂，这是因为 Fe(ii) 离子与自由基化学有关，而且 Fe(iii) 离子在近中性水中的溶解度极低。为了解决这些问题，所有生命领域的细胞都合成铁蛋白，以摄取和氧化 Fe(ii)，并形成一种可溶的 Fe(iii)储存形式，使铁能够用于生理功能。对铁蛋白的长期研究尚未产生对这种酶的普遍接受的作用机制。事实上，对于铁蛋白工作的几个关键步骤，现有的观点之间存在很大的分歧。本文综述的范围是解释这些争议的实验背景，并指出解决这些争议的可能方向。
