Chapter title |
Metallomics: The Science of Biometals and Biometalloids
|
---|---|
Chapter number | 1 |
Book title |
Metallomics
|
Published in |
Advances in experimental medicine and biology, January 2018
|
DOI | 10.1007/978-3-319-90143-5_1 |
Pubmed ID | |
Book ISBNs |
978-3-31-990142-8, 978-3-31-990143-5
|
Authors |
Wolfgang Maret, Maret, Wolfgang |
Abstract |
Metallomics, a discipline integrating sciences that address the biometals and biometalloids, provides new opportunities for discoveries. As part of a systems biology approach, it draws attention to the importance of many chemical elements in biochemistry. Traditionally, biochemistry has treated life as organic chemistry, separating it from inorganic chemistry, considered a field reserved for investigating the inanimate world. However, inorganic chemistry is part of the chemistry of life, and metallomics contributes by showing the importance of a neglected fifth branch of building blocks in biochemistry. Metallomics adds chemical elements/metals to the four building blocks of biomolecules and the fields of their studies: carbohydrates (glycome), lipids (lipidome), proteins (proteome), and nucleotides (genome). The realization that non-essential elements are present in organisms in addition to essential elements represents a certain paradigm shift in our thinking, as it stipulates inquiries into the functional implications of virtually all the natural elements. This article discusses opportunities arising from metallomics for a better understanding of human biology and health. It looks at a biological periodic system of the elements as a sum of metallomes and focuses on the major roles of metals in about 30-40% of all proteins, the metalloproteomes. It emphasizes the importance of zinc and iron biology and discusses why it is important to investigate non-essential metal ions, what bioinformatics approaches can contribute to understanding metalloproteins, and why metallomics has a bright future in the many dimensions it covers. |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 54 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Researcher | 12 | 22% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 6 | 11% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 5 | 9% |
Student > Postgraduate | 3 | 6% |
Student > Bachelor | 2 | 4% |
Other | 7 | 13% |
Unknown | 19 | 35% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Chemistry | 7 | 13% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 6 | 11% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 4 | 7% |
Earth and Planetary Sciences | 4 | 7% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 2 | 4% |
Other | 6 | 11% |
Unknown | 25 | 46% |