Biomolecules metalloproteins

In their subsequent analysis Baker and Bleaney (ibidem) decided to ignore the last term on the assumption that gdl 3b hv. Although this is a reasonable approximation for lanthanide and actinide integer-spin ions doped in single crystals, it is not usually an acceptable assumption for the broad-line spectra from metalloproteins. Furthermore, the assumption of a A-distribution around zero (i.e., D 0 but all other zero-field interaction parameters are zero) is equally untenable for biomolecules. Therefore, we go for a later extension of the theory, based on a full Equation 12.9 and on (A) 0, for application to metalloproteins (Hagen 1982b). 

It is well known that a great variety of biomolecules exist where metals and metalloids are bound to proteins and peptides, coordinated by nucleic acids or complexed by polysaccharides and small organic ligands such as organic acids.55 Most proteins contain amino acids with covalently bonded heteroelements such as sulphur, selenium, phosphorus or iodine.51 Several reviews have been published on the development of mass spectrometric techniques for bioanalysis in metal-lomics , which integrate work on metalloproteins, metalloenzymes and other metal containing biomolecules.1 51 53 54 56-59 The authors consider trace metals, metalloids, P and S (so-called... 

There are a number of enzymes that catalyse the dismutation of superoxide in vivo, viz. the superoxide dismutases [50,51], They are metalloproteins which contain copper, zinc, manganese or iron as the prosthetic group. The enzyme catalase exists in vivo to degrade hydrogen peroxide within cells to form water and oxygen [43]. As stated earlier, there are barely detectable amounts of these two enzymes in the synovial fluid of arthritic patients and hence both superoxide radicals and hydrogen peroxide are potential mediators of damage to the biomolecules of the synovial fluid. 

The goal of many biomolecular NMR studies is characterization of global molecular structure. In metallo-biomolecules, and in particular, for paramagnetic species, it is sometimes preferable to use NMR to perform a more focused study of the metal ion coordination enviroiunent and the metal electronic structure. Metal sites show great variation in the effects on chemical shifts and line widths and thus often call for tailored approaches. In this section, characteristics of some of the metalloproteins metal sites most frequently studied by NMR are summarized. Examples have been selected to illustrate approaches described in this chapter such as metal substitution, use of pseudocontact shifts, RDCs, relaxation enhancement, and detection of nuclei other than H. 

Polynuclear complexes lie at the core of many biomolecules, including metalloproteins such as ferritin and enzymes such as nitrogenase. Recent work has suggested that they are present in natural waters (e.g., Rozan et al. 2000) and serve as nuclei for crystal growth. 

In this article we propose to survey the role of iron as a conformational determinant in polypeptides and in non-haem proteins. This aspect of iron coordination research has been either ignored or only sporadically dealt with in reviews concerned with metalloproteins. By stressing this often circumstantial aspect of iron biochemistry it is our hope that the relevance of metals in general as fundamental structural factors in biomolecules will be brought into proper perspective. 

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