Ja. Gutierrez et al., FUNCTIONAL EXPRESSION CLONING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SFT, A STIMULATOR OF FE TRANSPORT, The Journal of cell biology, 139(4), 1997, pp. 895-905
A stimulator of Fe transport (SFT) was identified by functional expres
sion cloning in Xenopus oocytes, SFT-mediated transport has properties
defined for transferrin-independent Fe uptake, but its cytolocalizati
on in recycling endosomes and the observed stimulation of transferrin-
bound Fe assimilation indicate a key role in intracellular Fe membrane
transport as well. SFT has six predicted transmembranous domains and
a functionally important RExxE motif that resembles domains involved i
n yeast Fe transport and Fe-binding by ferritin L-chains. The observat
ion that SFT oligomerizes, along with other structural and mechanistic
features, suggests it may be a member of either the ATP-binding casse
tte or cation diffusion facilitator families. The 3' untranslated regi
on of SFT contains a translation inhibitory element and inhibition of
SFT expression in Xenopus oocytes was found to be relieved by coinject
ion of transcripts from other defined cDNAs that are also described in
this report. SFT is the first component of the mammalian Fe membrane
transport machinery to be identified.