title: Intestinal over-expression of iron transporters induces iron overload in birds in captivity.
abstract: Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) is a frequent genetic disease of older subjects of northern European descent. It is characterized by increased iron absorption and severe iron overloading in parenchymal organs. A similar disturbance of iron metabolism occurs in specific animal species in captivity. To address the key features leading to high absorption and thus to iron overload in these animals, we have studied the two iron transport proteins DMT1 and Ireg1 in the best-known susceptible species, the mynah bird. Here, we show that these birds have a high expression of DMT1 in the duodenum and also a strikingly high expression of Ireg1 along the whole small intestine. We believe that the iron accumulation in susceptible species only occurs in captivity because of a genotypic adaptation to their natural environment, where contrary to captivity, dietary iron is hardly available. The Caucasian population carrying mutations leading to iron overload today may have also benefited from the genetic advantage of up-regulating iron transport millennia ago, when dietary iron was scarce.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology, Division Pathology, Veterinary Medicine, The Netherlands. a.mete@vet.uu.nl
authors.forename: Asli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mete
authors.forename: Ruud
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jalving
authors.forename: Bernard A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: van Oost
authors.forename: Jaap E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: van Dijk
authors.forename: Joannes J M
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Marx
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002645:Chickens; D017931:DNA Primers; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D006801:Humans; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D033862:Iron-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007668:Kidney / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D046749:Starlings; D000098742:Ferroportin; D000099236:Solute Carrier Family 11, Member 2
chemical_list: D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; D007501:Iron; D033862:Iron-Binding Proteins; D000098742:Ferroportin; D000099236:Solute Carrier Family 11, Member 2