Molecular biology of iron transport in yeast: Identification and characterization of FET3

Iron is a required component of many redox and catalytic enzymes and is an essential nutrient for all eukaryotes. Although several common human diseases are due to the malregulation of iron accumulation, no eukaryotic transmembrane iron transport system had been identified when these studies began. Iron metabolism in the bakers yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was studied in order to characterize a eukaryotic iron transport system. These yeast rely on plasma membrane ferrireductase activity to convert insoluble ferric chelates to soluble ferrous iron, which is transported into cells by either a high or low affinity elemental iron transport system. The high affinity system has a K...