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Self-Assembly of Ferritin: Structure, Biological Function and Potential Applications in Nanotechnology

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Biological and Bio-inspired Nanomaterials

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 1174))

Abstract

Protein cages are normally formed by the self-assembly of multiple protein subunits and ferritin is a typical example of a protein cage structure. Ferritin is a ubiquitous multi-subunit iron storage protein formed by 24 polypeptide chains that self-assemble into a hollow, roughly spherical protein cage. Ferritin has external and internal diameters of approximately 12 nm and 8 nm, respectively. Functionally, ferritin performs iron sequestration and is highly conserved in evolution. The interior cavity of ferritin provides a unique reaction vessel to carry out reactions separated from the exterior environment. In nature, the cavity is utilized for sequestration of iron and bio-mineralization as a mechanism to render iron inert and safe from the external environment. Material scientists have been inspired by this system and exploited a range of ferritin superfamily proteins as supramolecular templates to encapsulate different carrier molecules ranging from cancer drugs to therapeutic proteins, in addition to using ferritin proteins as well-defined building blocks for fabrication. Besides the interior cavity, the exterior surface and sub-unit interface of ferritin can be modified without affecting ferritin assembly.

Brief Description

This chapter will describe the self-assembly properties of the iron-carrying protein ferritin into nanoscale structures and their biological properties as well as their applications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Bose Institute, Kolkata, India

    Soumyananda Chakraborti & Pinak Chakrabarti

  2. Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

    Soumyananda Chakraborti

Authors
  1. Soumyananda Chakraborti
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  2. Pinak Chakrabarti
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Correspondence to Soumyananda Chakraborti .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Sarah Perrett

  2. Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark DTU, Lyngby, Denmark

    Alexander K. Buell

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Tuomas P.J. Knowles

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Chakraborti, S., Chakrabarti, P. (2019). Self-Assembly of Ferritin: Structure, Biological Function and Potential Applications in Nanotechnology. In: Perrett, S., Buell, A., Knowles, T. (eds) Biological and Bio-inspired Nanomaterials. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1174. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9791-2_10

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