Low angle neutron scattering of ferritin studied by contrast variation.

Ferritins containing different amounts of iron have been studied by neutron small angle scattering in H 2 O/D 2 O mixtures. Apoferritin has also been studied in solutions of small organic molecules. There is a larger contrast variation in the solutions of small organic molecules than in the corresponding H 2 O/D 2 O experiments from which it may be calculated that I g of apoferritin contains 0·3 g of H 2 O. The solvent composition at zero contrast varies regularly with the iron content of the protein: there is evidence for polydispersity in the iron content of the ferritin used. From analysis of the scattering curves it is concluded that the iron is probably not homogeneously distributed in…