Metallomics

The following sections are included:

• Contents
• Prologue
• List of abbreviations

Contemporary biosciences are based on the molecules of life built from the main elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus. By and large, the roles of other elements essential for life or interacting with life are much less appreciated or sometimes even neglected altogether. The book tries to close this gap with a focus on the usage and significance of metals in biology. It explains why the functions of a large number of chemical elements should be a fundamental aspect of the chemistry of life (biochemistry) rather than a specialty discipline…

The following sections are included:

• Metals, the metallome, and metallomics
• Structural, functional, and quantitative metallomics
• Metal speciation in biology: the metallomes
• Metalloproteins
• Metalloproteomes and metalloproteomics
• Summary
• General reference
• Specific references

This chapter is a short excursion into some chemistry and biology in order to set a background and horizon for the systems that are addressed by metallomics. Importantly, it introduces the number of elements (metals and non-metals) essential for life and interacting with life. It explains the significance of metals for life and its evolution, and the interaction of metals with the environment. Last but not least, it gives some knowledge typically found in textbooks of bioinorganic chemistry, namely important biochemical reactions that depend on metals and the remarkable coordination environments of biometals.

The following sections are included:

• Dose-response curves for essential metal ions
• The structures and functions of the essential metals
  • s-block alkali and alkaline earth metals
  • d-block transition metals and zinc
  • p-block metals
  • f-block metals
• Summary
• General references
• Specific references

The previous chapter discussed uncertainties in considering some elements essential and how many elements are essential for a given species. The “scientific jury is still out” whether additional metals are essential and what the functional implications of their presence are. The history of scientific discovery teaches us that one ought to be careful when assuming that an element is non-essential. About 90 years ago, when the biological functions of zinc in humans were not yet known, it was discussed whether or not the presence of zinc in biological tissues is a consequence of industrial exposure to zinc. A landmark paper concluded that the omnipresence of zinc in human tissues indicates a critical function for the body (Drinker and Collier 1926). It took another 20 years to isolate the first zinc enzyme, carbonic anhydrase, and 40 years to demonstrate that zinc is an essential nutrient for humans…

Walter Bradford Cannon (1871–1945) is considered as a father of systems biology. He introduced the term homeostasis (greek: ŐμOιOς homoeos, “similar” and στάσις stasis, “standing still”) for the regulatory physiology observed by Claude Bernard (1813–1878) that living organisms maintain an internal milieu that protects and provides stability for cells and tissues. Importantly, the concept of homeostasis applies to essential metal ions. The realization how tightly they are regulated in the body (systemic homeostasis) and in the cell (cellular homeostasis) is one of the major recent advances in the field. It demonstrates the full integration of metal biochemistry into the general biochemistry of organisms and is crucial for understanding essential, pharmacological, and toxic functions of metal ions…

The following sections are included:

• Epilogue and Summary
• Glossary
• Name and Subject Index