The study found a new mechanism of competition between black-bee fruit flies and different iron transport routes

recently, Xiao Guiran, a professor in the School of Food and Bioengineering at Hefei University of Technology, led a team that found that the black-belue fruit fly-to-ferritin 1 (transferin1) is involved in iron transport in the body and competes with ferritin. The study was published online January 15 in Cell Reports.
black belly fruit fly is an important model organism widely used in genetic and developmental biology. They are small in size, have a short life cycle (about 12 days), have strong reproductive capacity and are easy to breed.
, the first author of the paper and a correspondent, told China Science Daily that the study was based on an in-depth study after the analysis of the secretion route. Previously, Xiao Guiran in the doctoral stage in the black belly fruit fly identified the iron transport protein dZIP13 located in the secretion pathway, responsible for supplying iron to the secretion route, and then loaded by ferrine and transported to the body for use. What is to be discussed is the difference and connection between the secretion route and the traditional trans-ferrin transport iron.
The experimenters used classical genetic methods to knock down the expression of low transirinone 1 in different tissues of black abdominal fruit flies, and found that transirin1 produced in the fat body (equivalent to the mammalian liver) played an important role in the growth and development of fruit flies; Lower iron content, these data show that the fat body produced by the trans ferrine 1 can transfer iron between tissues, responsible for transporting iron in the intestine to the fat body; This suggests that trans-ferrin 1 can compete with ferrine in the intestines for iron.
The study identified the function of trans ferrin 1, one of the same families of fruit flies, as responsible for inter-tissue iron transport, the transport of iron from the intestines to the fat body, and the relationship between trans-ferrin 1 and ferrine in the intestines. This study provides important clues for future study of the evolution of iron metabolism and the improvement of understanding of iron metabolism in mammals. (Source: Science Network Cheng Weijia)