Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Oxidative Damage Caused By Iron Loading Into Ferritin, Talina Christensen Watts

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Ferritin is the iron storage protein found in humans, animals, plants, fungi and bacteria. We are interested in how iron is loaded and stored in mammalian ferritin. Ferrous iron must be oxidized to ferric iron in order to be stored in ferritin. It is generally believed that ferritin does the loading itself, dependant upon a "ferroxidase activity." Oxidation of iron can result in the production of the hydroxyl radical which can cause oxidative damage to surrounding proteins and other biomolecules. An indicator of oxidative damage to proteins is the formation of carbonyl groups. Using only the H subunit of human …