Comparative aspects of transferrin-reticulocyte interactions: membrane receptors and iron uptake

1. A comparative study was made of transferrin and iron uptake by rabbit, rat and human reticulocytes and chick embryo erythrocytes from rabbit, rat, human, chicken and porcine transferrins, human lactoferrin and chicken conalbumin. 2. Three methods were used, viz. direct and competitive uptake studies of transferrin and iron by the four species of cells, and competitive studies of transferrin binding by solubilized membrane receptors (rabbit reticulocytes only). 3. Methods were devised to analyse the data so as to obtain indices of relatedness or relative affinities of each type of heterologous transferrin in rates of iron uptake found with transferrin and cells from various species are largely due to variation in the affinity of cellular receptors for different transferrins. 5. It is concluded that the procedure used in this investigation allow the assessment of phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary trends obtained by structural studies of proteins.