Lack of bioavailability Essential Metals in Biology Sea water (µM) Blood plasma (µM) Fe Zn Cu Ni Co Macro- and micronutrients Data adapted from Biological Inorganic Chemistry, Bertini, Gray, Stiefel, & Valentine, 2007 Problems to overcome: Too much of a good thing Wilson’s disease: Cu Accumulation in the eye This soup is too cold… This soup is too hot…
Getting it “just right”: Transport and Storage: Iron This soup is just right… All of this trouble… begs the question, “why bother?” Iron scavengers- collecting iron from the environment Siderophores – Nature’s fabulous chelator Long- term storage (or short) Ferritin – the Fe storage protein Getting around Transferrin – the Fe transport protein
Acid/Base Chemistry Activating Water to Make Potent Nucleophiles H+H+ H2OH2O HCO 3 - Figure generated from PDB file 1ZNC using Protein Workshop CO 2
Oxidation/Reduction Chemistry A Large Variety of Redox Potentials Potentials vs. NHE
Structural Roles for Metals Ability to exceed octet Flexibility /Lability of structure Scaffolding for Protein folding What can metals get you that carbon can’t ?