Structure and domain dynamics of human lactoferrin in solution and the influence of Fe(III)-ion ligand binding

Human lactoferrin is an iron-binding protein of the innate immune system consisting of two connected lobes, each with a binding site located in a cleft. The clefts in each lobe undergo a hinge movement from open to close when Fe3+ is present in the solution and can be bound. The binding mechanism was assumed to relate on thermal domain fluctuations of the cleft domains prior to binding. We used Small Angle Neutron Scattering and Neutron Spin...