Iron transport

Iron homeostasis is maintained by regulating its absorption: Under conditio ns of deficiency, assimilation is enhanced but iron uptake is otherwise lim ited to prevent toxicity due to overload. Iron deficiency remains the most important micronutrient deficiency worldwide, but increasing awareness of t he genetic basis for iron-loading diseases points to iron overload as a maj or public health issue as well. Recent identification of mutant alleles cau sing iron uptake disorders in mice and humans provides new insights into th e mechanisms involved in iron transport and its regulation. This article su mmarizes these discoveries and discusses their impact on our current unders tanding of iron transport and its regulation.