title: Identification and expression of a ferritin homolog in amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri: evidence for its dual role in immune response and iron metabolism.
abstract: Ferritin plays a key role in cellular iron metabolism including iron storage and detoxification, which has been identified in a wide range of organisms including bacteria, fungi, plants and animals. However, little information is available regarding ferritin in the protochordates to date. Here we demonstrate the presence of a ferritin gene homolog, BbFRT, in amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri. Analysis of the BbFRT 5'-UTR indicated the existence of a putative iron-responsive element (IRE) with a predicated stem-loop structure. BbFRT encoded a deduced protein of 172 amino acids with the conserved motif for ferroxidase center typical of heavy chains of vertebrate ferritins. Sequence comparison showed that BbFRT shared more identity to H-chains (68%) of vertebrate ferritins than to the L-chains (46-51%). Both in situ hybridization histochemistry and immunohistochemical staining revealed that BbFRT was ubiquitously expressed in B. belcheri. In addition, BbFRT expression was up-regulated by 1.6-fold and 1.5-fold, respectively, following exposure to LPS at both transcriptional and translational levels. Similarly, exposure to iron resulted in about 1.6-fold increase in BbFRT in the humoral fluids. These suggest that BbFRT seems a protein with a dual function functioning in both immune response and iron metabolism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Biology, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Gaowa
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Saren
authors.forename: Shicui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001483:Base Sequence; D002816:Chordata, Nonvertebrate / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D005293:Ferritins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000494:pharmacology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D005293:Ferritins; D007501:Iron