Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0240066 (iron deficiency)
 7,156 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Iron has a fundamental role in many metabolic processes, including electron transport, deoxyribonucleotide synthesis, oxygen transport and many essential redox reactions involving haemoproteins and Fe-S cluster proteins. Defective iron homeostasis results in either iron deficiency or iron overload. Precise regulation of iron transport in mitochondria is essential for haem biosynthesis, haemoglobin production and Fe-S cluster protein assembly during red cell development. Here we describe a zebrafish mutant, frascati (frs), that shows profound hypochromic anaemia and erythroid maturation arrest owing to defects in mitochondrial iron uptake. Through positional cloning, we show that the gene mutated in the frs mutant is a member of the vertebrate mitochondrial solute carrier family (SLC25) that we call mitoferrin (mfrn). mfrn is highly expressed in fetal and adult haematopoietic tissues of zebrafish and mouse. Erythroblasts generated from murine embryonic stem cells null for Mfrn (also known as Slc25a37) show maturation arrest with severely impaired incorporation of 55Fe into haem. Disruption of the yeast mfrn orthologues, MRS3 and MRS4, causes defects in iron metabolism and mitochondrial Fe-S cluster biogenesis. Murine Mfrn rescues the defects in frs zebrafish, and zebrafish mfrn complements the yeast mutant, indicating that the function of the gene may be highly conserved. Our data show that mfrn functions as the principal mitochondrial iron importer essential for haem biosynthesis in vertebrate erythroblasts.
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PMID:Mitoferrin is essential for erythroid iron assimilation. 1651 96

Mitochondrial iron is essential for the biosynthesis of heme and iron-sulfur ([Fe-S]) clusters in mammalian cells. In developing erythrocytes, iron is imported into the mitochondria by MFRN1 (mitoferrin-1, SLC25A37). Although loss of MFRN1 in zebrafish and mice leads to profound anemia, mutant animals showed no overt signs of porphyria, suggesting that mitochondrial iron deficiency does not result in an accumulation of protoporphyrins. Here, we developed a gene trap model to provide in vitro and in vivo evidence that iron regulatory protein-1 (IRP1) inhibits protoporphyrin accumulation. Mfrn1(+/gt);Irp1(-/-) erythroid cells exhibit a significant increase in protoporphyrin levels. IRP1 attenuates protoporphyrin biosynthesis by binding to the 5'-iron response element (IRE) of alas2 mRNA, inhibiting its translation. Ectopic expression of alas2 harboring a mutant IRE, preventing IRP1 binding, in Mfrn1(gt/gt) cells mimics Irp1 deficiency. Together, our data support a model whereby impaired mitochondrial [Fe-S] cluster biogenesis in Mfrn1(gt/gt) cells results in elevated IRP1 RNA-binding that attenuates ALAS2 mRNA translation and protoporphyrin accumulation.
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PMID:Iron regulatory protein-1 protects against mitoferrin-1-deficient porphyria. 2450 59

Dysregulation of iron homeostasis is a potential risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and insulin resistance. Iron transported into mitochondria by mitoferrins is mainly utilized for the biosynthesis of iron-sulfur clusters, heme, and other cofactors. Recent studies revealed that mitochondrial dysfunction leads to impaired adipogenesis and insulin insensitivity in adipocytes. However, it is unknown whether mitochondrial iron import and iron status affect the biogenesis and function of mitochondria during adipogenic differentiation. In this study, we used double knockdown of mitoferrin 1 and mitoferrin 2 (Mfrn1/2) to investigate the role of mitochondrial iron homeostasis in mitochondrial bioenergetic function and adipogenic differentiation. The results showed that depletion of Mfrn1/2 in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes impaired the biosynthesis of iron-sulfur proteins in mitochondria due to a decrease in mitochondrial iron content. This was associated with a decrease in mitochondrial oxygen consumption rate and intracellular ATP level in adipocytes with Mfrn1/2 knockdown. Remarkably, Mfrn1/2 deficiency reduced the expression of adipogenic genes and lipid production during adipogenic differentiation. Moreover, insulin-induced glucose uptake and Akt phosphorylation at the Ser473 residue were decreased concurrently in adipocytes differentiated from 3T3-L1 preadipocytes after knockdown of Mfrn1/2. These findings suggest that dysregulation of mitochondrial iron metabolism elicited by knockdown of Mfrn1/2 results in mitochondrial dysfunction, which culminates in the compromise of differentiation and insulin insensitivity of adipocytes. This scenario may explain the recent findings that iron deficiency or alterations in iron metabolism are associated with the pathogenesis of T2DM.
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PMID:Depletion of mitoferrins leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and impairment of adipogenic differentiation in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. 2611 15