University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Bioengineering, Chicago, IL 60607, USA.
Nanoscale. 2019 Sep 19;11(36):16868-16878. doi: 10.1039/c9nr01541h.
Ferritin is a protein that regulates the iron ions in humans by storing them in the form of iron oxides. Despite extensive efforts to understand the ferritin iron oxide structures, it is still not clear how ferritin proteins with a distinct light (L) and heavy (H) chain subunit ratio impact the biomineralization process. In situ graphene liquid cell-transmission electron microscopy (GLC-TEM) provides an indispensable platform to study the atomic structure of ferritin mineral cores in their native liquid environment. In this study, we report differences in the iron oxide formation in human spleen ferritins (HSFs) and human heart ferritins (HHFs) using in situ GLC-TEM. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) along with selected area electron diffraction (SAED) of the mineral core and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) analyses enabled the visualization of morphologies, crystal structures and the chemistry of iron oxide cores in HSFs and HHFs. Our study revealed the presence of metastable ferrihydrite (5Fe2O3·9H2O) as a dominant phase in hydrated HSFs and HHFs, while a stable hematite (α-Fe2O3) phase predominated in non-hydrated HSFs and HHFs. In addition, a higher Fe3+/Fe2+ ratio was found in HHFs in comparison with HSFs. This study provides new understanding on iron-oxide phases that exist in hydrated ferritin proteins from different human organs. Such new insights are needed to map ferritin biomineralization pathways and possible correlations with various iron-related disorders in humans.
铁蛋白是一种通过将铁离子以氧化铁的形式储存来调节人体内铁离子的蛋白质。尽管人们已经做了大量的努力来了解铁蛋白的氧化铁结构,但仍然不清楚具有不同轻(L)链和重(H)链亚基比例的铁蛋白如何影响生物矿化过程。原位石墨烯液相透射电子显微镜(GLC-TEM)为研究铁蛋白矿化核心在其天然液相环境中的原子结构提供了一个不可或缺的平台。在这项研究中,我们使用原位 GLC-TEM 报告了人脾铁蛋白(HSFs)和人心铁蛋白(HHFs)中氧化铁形成的差异。矿物核心的扫描透射电子显微镜(STEM)和选区电子衍射(SAED)以及电子能量损失能谱(EELS)分析使我们能够可视化 HSFs 和 HHFs 中氧化铁核心的形态、晶体结构和化学性质。我们的研究揭示了在水合的 HSFs 和 HHFs 中,亚稳态的水铁矿(5Fe2O3·9H2O)是主要相,而在非水合的 HSFs 和 HHFs 中,稳定的赤铁矿(α-Fe2O3)相占主导地位。此外,与 HSFs 相比,在 HHFs 中发现了更高的 Fe3+/Fe2+ 比值。这项研究为不同人体器官的水合铁蛋白中存在的氧化铁相提供了新的认识。这种新的见解对于描绘铁蛋白生物矿化途径以及与人类各种与铁相关的疾病的可能相关性是必要的。
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