Ferritin, cellular iron storage and regulation
Open accessAbstract
Ferritin is considered the major iron storage protein which maintains a large iron core in its cavity and has ferroxidase activity. There are many types of ferritin particularly in prokaryotes that include the canonical 24‐mer FTN molecules, the heme‐containing BFR, the smaller 12‐mer DPS and the newly recognized EncFtn of encapsulin that forms a very large iron storage compartment. Recent studies show that ferritin function is more dynamic than previous depicted and new mechanisms of ferritin iron recycling are emerging. They participate to the regulation of cellular iron homeostasis as those of ferritin biosynthesis, cooperating also with the iron‐dependent mechanism of cellular iron secretion. Some of these basic processes are in common between unicellular and animal cells, and this review aims at discussing the findings on the connections between iron storage, cellular iron regulation and ferritin iron recycling that have been explored in unicellular organisms and in animals. © 2017 IUBMB Life, 69(6):414–422, 2017
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When grown with an abundance of iron, the cell may sequester iron in hollow multimeric proteins (ferritin, mini-ferritins, and bacterioferritins).
“When grown with an abundance of iron, the cell may sequester iron in hollow multimeric proteins (ferritin,126,127 mini-ferritins,128 and bacterioferritins129) (Figure 5).”
From Metals in Motion: Understanding Labile Metal Pools in Bacteria (2025) · cites this paper as [126]
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- Authors
- Arosio, P., Elia, L., & Poli, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Brescia (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Arosio, Paolo
- Venue
- IUBMB Life
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-03-27
- Volume
- 69
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 414-422
- ISSN
- 1521-6543 (ISSN-L)
- 1521-6551
- OpenAlex
- W2603130010
- Cited by
- 480
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 49 · 2025: 83 · 2024: 61 · 2023: 58 · 2022: 55 · 2021: 71 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 9
- FWCI
- 4.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- IUBMB Life (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Institutional Research Information System (Università degli Studi di Brescia) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Fondazione Telethon (GGP15064)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Hematology › Iron Metabolism and Disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neurological diseases and metabolism
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Hemoglobin structure and function
- Keywords
- ferritin, iron homeostasis, BfR, encapsulin, unicellular organisms, animal cells
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Ceruloplasmin, Ferritins, Gene Expression Regulation, Heme, Homeostasis, Iron, Oxidation-Reduction, Prokaryotic Cells, Receptors, Transferrin, Species Specificity, Signal Transduction, Protein Isoforms, Iron Regulatory Protein 1
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