Phytoferritin is synthesized in vitro as a high-molecular-weight precursor. Studies on the synthesis and the uptake in vitro of the precursors of ferritin and ferredoxin by intact chloroplasts.

Evidence is presented that French-bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) seed ferritin is composed of one type of subunit with an apparent Mr of 26500. In normal and iron-loaded leaf tissues it is detected immunologically with an antiserum raised against purified bean seed ferritin and migrates in SDS (sodium dodecyl sulphate)/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis with the same mobility as the bean seed ferritin subunit. The biosynthetic pathway of ferritin in normal and iron-loaded leaves was investigated. RNA was extracted, fractionated into polyadenylated RNA and translated in a cell-free rabbit reticulocyte lysate and a wheat-germ-extract system. The products were identified by SDS/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis after indirect immunoprecipitation. In all cases the ferritin product had an Mr 5000 higher than that of the native subunit. Uptake and processing of the precursor form of ferritin from iron-loaded leaves by intact chloroplasts was demonstrated. This indicates that, in iron-loaded leaves, ferritin acts as a chloroplast protein. We propose that the ferritin precursor in normal leaves follows the same biosynthetic pathway. This suggests that the iron-buffering function of ferritin in plants takes place in the chloroplast and that non-functional cellular iron will accumulate in this cell organelle.