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. 1982 Feb 1;201(2):417–419. doi: 10.1042/bj2010417

Evolutionary significance of the renal excretion of transferrin half-molecule fragments

John Williams *, Sheila A Grace †, Jennifer M Williams †
PMCID: PMC1163659  PMID: 6805466

Abstract

It is generally thought that the duplicated structure of serum transferrin in vertebrates arose by gene duplication and fusion from a small ancestral protein. We have found that the isolated domains of transferrin are rapidly lost from the bloodstream via the kidneys. Therefore we suggest that the ancestral transferrin was not a serum protein or, alternatively, that it was not as small as the half-molecule.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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