Crystallographic characterization of a marine invertebrate ferritin from the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus.

ABSTRACT: Ferritin is considered to be an ubiquitous and conserved iron-binding protein that plays a crucial role in iron storage, detoxification, and immune response. Although ferritin is of critical importance for almost all kingdoms of life, there is a lack of knowledge about its role in the marine invertebrate sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus). In this study, we characterized the first crystal structure of A. japonicus ferritin (AjFER) at 2.75 Å resolution. The structure of AjFER shows a 4-3-2 symmetry cage-like hollow shell composed of 24 subunits, mostly similar to the structural characteristics of other known ferritin species, including the conserved ferroxidase center and 3-fold channel. The 3-fold channel consisting of three 3-fold negative amino acid rings suggests a potential pathway

SUBMITTER: Wu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8886333 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature