A variant of human transferrin with abnormal properties.

Screening of human serum samples by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis in the presence of 6 M-urea revealed an individual who is heterozygous for a variant transferrin. The variant transferrin is able to bind two atoms of iron, but the iron in the C-terminal binding site is bound abnormally, as judged by its spectral properties, and is dissociated from the protein on electrophoresis in the presence of 6 M-urea. The iron-free C-terminal domain of the variant protein is less stable than normal to thermal and urea denaturation. Structural changes in the variant protein have not yet been characterized.