Mitoferrin is essential for erythroid iron assimilation

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.     

湿地状态对石油污染和植物长势影响的模拟研究

模拟实验中建立了一系列不同状态的“湿地桶”,桶中装有从黄河三角洲采集的被石油污染的土壤和当地的湿地植物。通过监测湿地植物（芦苇、香蒲等）的长势和化验土壤中总石油烃（TPH）及油和脂（O/G）随时间的变化,以探讨湿地状态对石油污染和植物长势的影响。结果显示：湿地环境对土壤中的石油污染有明显的降解作用,芦苇等挺水植物的生长量与积水深度呈正相关,土壤中少量含油并不构成对湿地植物生长的威胁。此实验可为建立油田的湿地缓冲带提供科学依据。