Specific metal recognition in nickel trafficking.

ABSTRACT: Nickel is an essential metal for a number of bacterial species that have developed systems for acquiring, delivering, and incorporating the metal into target enzymes and controlling the levels of nickel in cells to prevent toxic effects. As with other transition metals, these trafficking systems must be able to distinguish between the desired metal and other transition metal ions with similar physical and chemical properties. Because there are few enzymes (targets) that require nickel for activity (e.g., Escherichia coli transports nickel for hydrogenases made under anaerobic conditions, and Helicobacter pylori requires nickel for hydrogenase and urease that are essential for acid viability), the "traffic pattern" for nickel is relatively simple, and nickel trafficking therefore presents a

SUBMITTER: Higgins KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3502001 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature