History of biological metal utilization inferred through phylogenomic analysis of protein structures.

ABSTRACT: The fundamental chemistry of trace elements dictates the molecular speciation and reactivity both within cells and the environment at large. Using protein structure and comparative genomics, we elucidate several major influences this chemistry has had upon biology. All of life exhibits the same proteome size-dependent scaling for the number of metal-binding proteins within a proteome. This fundamental evolutionary constant shows that the selection of one element occurs at the exclusion of another, with the eschewal of Fe for Zn and Ca being a defining feature of eukaryotic proteomes. Early life lacked both the structures required to control intracellular metal concentrations and the metal-binding proteins that catalyze electron transport and redox transformations. The development of protei

SUBMITTER: Dupont CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2890839 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature