title: Musca domestica hemolymph ferritin.
abstract: We describe a method for the purification of ferritin from Musca domestica larval hemolymph. Musca ferritin occurs in hemolymph predominantly as a native protein with molecular weight equal to 550,000 and subunits of 26,000. The average iron content of purified ferritin was determined to be 3,000 +/ 600 iron atoms per molecule. The iron contents of ferritin was heterogeneous; both fully iron loaded molecules and apoferritin are probably present in the Musca hemolymph. The anti-ferritin serum raised in rabbit was able to recognize native ferritin but was not reactive with the protein subunits isolated by SDS-PAGE. The ferritin concentration in hemolymph attains a maximum of 0.28 mg/ml in the wandering stage larvae decreasing to 0.13 mg/ml at the middle of pupal stadium. The ferritin contents of midgut and fat bodies were also determined. Fat body ferritin content is greatly reduced when the feeding larva passes into wandering stage.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: M de L
authors.initials: Mde L
authors.lastname: Capurro
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Iughetti
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Ribolla
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: de Bianchi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006458:Hemolymph; D006793:Houseflies / Q000378:metabolism*; D007814:Larva; D011679:Pupa; D011817:Rabbits
chemical_list: D005293:Ferritins