Ferritin

Ferritin is a globular protein found mainly in the liver, which can store about 4500 iron ions in a hollow shell made of 24 identical subunits. Inside the ferritin shell, iron ions form crystallites together with phosphate and hydroxide ions.

Related Topics:
Protein - Iron - Phosphate - Hydroxide

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Some ferritin complexes in vertebrates are hetero-oligomers of two higly related genes with slightly different physiological properties. The ratio of the two homologous proteins in the complex depends on the relative expression levels of the two genes.

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