Zinc as Allosteric Ion Channel Modulator: Ionotropic Receptors as Metalloproteins.

ABSTRACT: Zinc is an essential metal to life. This transition metal is a structural component of many proteins and is actively involved in the catalytic activity of cell enzymes. In either case, these zinc-containing proteins are metalloproteins. However, the amino acid residues that serve as ligands for metal coordination are not necessarily the same in structural proteins compared to enzymes. While crystals of structural proteins that bind zinc reveal a higher preference for cysteine sulfhydryls rather than histidine imidazole rings, catalytic enzymes reveal the opposite, i.e., a greater preference for the histidines over cysteines for catalysis, plus the influence of carboxylic acids. Based on this paradigm, we reviewed the putative ligands of zinc in ionotropic receptors, where zinc has been des

SUBMITTER: Peralta FA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4964435 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature