The influence of sex steroid hormones on ferrochelatase gene expression in Harderian gland of hamster (Mesocricetus auratus)

The Journal of Endocrinology
F VilchisB Chávez

Abstract

Ferrochelatase (protohaem ferrolyase, EC 4.99.1.1), the terminal enzyme of the haem biosynthetic pathway, catalyses the insertion of ferrous iron into protoporphyrin IX to form protohaem. The Syrian hamster Harderian gland (HG) is known for its ability to produce and accumulate large amounts of protoporphyrins. In this species, the female gland contains up to 120 times more porphyrin than the male gland. Data from biochemical studies suggest that this gland possesses the enzymatic complex for haem biosynthesis but lacks ferrochelatase activity. The abundance of intraglandular haem proteins does not support this idea. To gain more insight into this process, we isolated cDNA for ferrochelatase from hamster liver, using the 5'- and 3'- rapid amplification of complementary DNA ends (RACE), and investigated its expression in HG from males and females. The full-length cDNA comprises an open reading frame of 1269 bp encoding a polypeptide of 422 amino-acid residues. Hamster DNA sequence exhibits 92% identity to mouse and 87% identity to human sequences. The predicted hamster enzyme was shown to have structural features of mammalian ferrochelatase, including a putative NH2- terminal presequence, a central core of about 330 amino-acid r...Continue Reading

Citations

Oct 6, 2007·Journal of Molecular Neuroscience : MN·Shuwen LiangLouis N Irwin
Dec 7, 2013·Histochemistry and Cell Biology·M García-MaciaA Coto-Montes
Dec 17, 2014·Steroids·B ChávezF Vilchis

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Biosynthetic Transformations

Biosyntheic transformtions are multi-step, enzyme-catalyzed processes where substrates are converted into more complex products in living organisms. Simple compounds are modified, converted into other compounds, or joined together to form macromolecules. Discover the latest research on biosynthetic transformations here.