The Metals in the Biological Periodic System of the Elements: Concepts and Conjectures
A significant number of chemical elements are either essential for life with known functions, or present in organisms with poorly defined functional outcomes. We do not know all the essential elements with certainty and we know even less about the functions of apparently non-essential elements. In t...
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doaj-3acccef927b5423187f5003784fe9fc22020-11-24T20:52:19ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences1422-00672016-01-011716610.3390/ijms17010066ijms17010066The Metals in the Biological Periodic System of the Elements: Concepts and ConjecturesWolfgang Maret0London Iron Metabolism Group, Division of Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences and Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, 150 Stamford St., London SE1 9NH, UKA significant number of chemical elements are either essential for life with known functions, or present in organisms with poorly defined functional outcomes. We do not know all the essential elements with certainty and we know even less about the functions of apparently non-essential elements. In this article, I discuss a basis for a biological periodic system of the elements and that biochemistry should include the elements that are traditionally part of inorganic chemistry and not only those that are in the purview of organic chemistry. A biological periodic system of the elements needs to specify what “essential” means and to which biological species it refers. It represents a snapshot of our present knowledge and is expected to undergo further modifications in the future. An integrated approach of biometal sciences called metallomics is required to understand the interactions of metal ions, the biological functions that their chemical structures acquire in the biological system, and how their usage is fine-tuned in biological species and in populations of species with genetic variations (the variome).http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/17/1/66essential metalsnon-essential metalsperiodic system of the elementsmetallomics |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Wolfgang Maret |
spellingShingle |
Wolfgang Maret The Metals in the Biological Periodic System of the Elements: Concepts and Conjectures International Journal of Molecular Sciences essential metals non-essential metals periodic system of the elements metallomics |
author_facet |
Wolfgang Maret |
author_sort |
Wolfgang Maret |
title |
The Metals in the Biological Periodic System of the Elements: Concepts and Conjectures |
title_short |
The Metals in the Biological Periodic System of the Elements: Concepts and Conjectures |
title_full |
The Metals in the Biological Periodic System of the Elements: Concepts and Conjectures |
title_fullStr |
The Metals in the Biological Periodic System of the Elements: Concepts and Conjectures |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Metals in the Biological Periodic System of the Elements: Concepts and Conjectures |
title_sort |
metals in the biological periodic system of the elements: concepts and conjectures |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
issn |
1422-0067 |
publishDate |
2016-01-01 |
description |
A significant number of chemical elements are either essential for life with known functions, or present in organisms with poorly defined functional outcomes. We do not know all the essential elements with certainty and we know even less about the functions of apparently non-essential elements. In this article, I discuss a basis for a biological periodic system of the elements and that biochemistry should include the elements that are traditionally part of inorganic chemistry and not only those that are in the purview of organic chemistry. A biological periodic system of the elements needs to specify what “essential” means and to which biological species it refers. It represents a snapshot of our present knowledge and is expected to undergo further modifications in the future. An integrated approach of biometal sciences called metallomics is required to understand the interactions of metal ions, the biological functions that their chemical structures acquire in the biological system, and how their usage is fine-tuned in biological species and in populations of species with genetic variations (the variome). |
topic |
essential metals non-essential metals periodic system of the elements metallomics |
url |
http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/17/1/66 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT wolfgangmaret themetalsinthebiologicalperiodicsystemoftheelementsconceptsandconjectures AT wolfgangmaret metalsinthebiologicalperiodicsystemoftheelementsconceptsandconjectures |
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1716800012737839104 |