Hephaestin characterization

Based on present sequence data, known or likely ferroxidase enzymes can be identihed in several eukaryotes. These enzymes are listed in Table 11. All are multicopper oxidases, by sequence homology at least. In mammals, they include ceruloplasmin and, most likely, hephaestin (Hp), although only mouse Hp (mHp) has been characterized at this time (Vulpe et al., 1999). The alignments in Fig. 5A show that mHp is essentially... 

Iron Metabolism. Copper-containing enzymes— namely ferroxidase I (ceruloplasmin) and ferroxidase II, and the recently described hephaestin in the enterocyte—oxidize ferrous iron to ferric iron. This allows incorporation of Fe into transferrin and eventually into hemoglobin. Ferroxidase II is a yellow protein, the importance of which in iron metabolism is not as well characterized as that of ceruloplasmin. 

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