Abstract
Ferritin protein is involved in biological tissues in the storage and management of iron - an essential micro-nutrient in the majority of living systems. While there are extensive studies on iron-loaded ferritin, its functionality in iron delivery is not completely clear. Here, for the first time, differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) has been successfully adapted to address the challenge of resolving a cascade of fast and co-occurring redox steps in enzymatic systems such as ferritin. Using DPV, comparative analysis of ferritins from two evolutionary-distant organisms has allowed us to propose a stepwise resolution for the complex mix of concurrent redox steps that is inherent to ferritins and to fine-tune the structure-function relationship of each redox step. Indeed, the cyclic conversion between Fe3+ and Fe2+ as well as the different oxidative steps of the various ferroxidase centers already known in ferritins were successfully discriminated, bringing new evidence that both the 3-fold and 4-fold channels can be functional in ferritin.
Highlights
Fe2+ when releasing, some ambiguity exists on the exact mechanisms related to the redox dynamics[14,15], especially when considered under the influence of external reducing agents[16]
Aside from bacterioferritins, most studies on Fe ion dynamics have been on horse ferritin because of large availability, as well as on human ferritins because of the incentive to understand the critical role of ferritin in human diseases[17]
While differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) is developed for the measurement of small concentrations, we here take advantage of the stepwise pulsed voltage increases to enhance the sensitivity and specificity of the response and help address the issues related to deformation and adsorption of ferritin protein to electrodes surface
Summary
Fe2+ when releasing, some ambiguity exists on the exact mechanisms related to the redox dynamics[14,15], especially when considered under the influence of external reducing agents[16]. The approach of differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) was applied instead to measure and integrate coupled processes related to ferritin species www.nature.com/scientificreports related transport to the electrode[16].
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