Plant-required metals

Two different objectives are common when extracting soil to determine its metal content. The first is to determine the amount of biologically active metal present. This is typically the goal for determining the levels of plant-required metals. In terms of total samples analyzed, this is the most common reason for extracting soil. Metals in soil that are essential to plants and that are most... 

While unicellular fungi do not require metal transport systems, multi-cellular fungi and plants most certainly do, and we consider their transport in plants, and then consider how metal ions are sequestered in storage compartments before addressing their homeostasis. Once again, we consider in turn these processes for iron, copper and zinc. Since iron metabolism has been most intensively studied in S. cerevisiae, of all the fungi, we will focus our attention on iron homeostatic mechanisms, however, as the reader will see shortly, copper and zinc homeostasis have many similarities. 

Roughly 30% of enzymes are metalloenzymes or require metal ions for activity and the present chapter will concentrate on the chemisty and structure of the plant metalloenzymes. As analytical methods have improved it has been possible to establish a metal ion requirement for a variety of enzymes which were initially considered to be pure proteins. A dramatic example is provided by the enzyme urease isolated from Jack beans and first crystallised by Sumner (1926) (the first enzyme to be crystallised). Sumner defined an enzyme as a pure protein with catalytic activity, however, Zerner and his coworkers (Dixon et al., 1975) established that urease is in fact a nickel metalloenzyme. Jack bean urease contains two moles of nickel(II) per mole of active sites and at least one of these metal ions is implicated in its mechanism of action. 

Since the release of HCN is a common defense mechanism for plants, the number of available HNLs is large. Depending on the plant family they are isolated from, they can have very different structures some resemble hydrolases or carbox-ypeptidase, while others evolved from oxidoreductases. Although many of the HNLs are not structurally related they all utilize acid-base catalysis. No co-factors need to be added to the reactions nor do any of the HNL metallo-enzymes require metal salts. A further advantage is that many different enzymes are available, R- or S-selective [10]. For virtually every application it is possible to find a stereoselective HNL (Table 5.1). In addition they tend to be stable and can be used in organic solvents or two-phase systems, in particular in emulsions. 

Without doubt, concanavalin A (Con A) is the most celebrated and has proven to be one of the most useful of the plant lectins. Its physical chemical properties and carbohydratebinding properties are well documented in previous reviews [3,8]. Suffice it to note that it was first isolated and crystallized by Sumner and Howell in 1936, who showed it to require metal ions for its activity [74]. By virtue of its interaction with branched a-D-glucans, it is readily prepared by affinity chromatography on crossed-linked dextran (Sephadex) [75, 76]. A homotetramer at pH 7 (subunit M, = 26 500 Da) of Con A has been sequenced [77] and its crystal structure determined both in its native form [38,39] and complexed with methyl a-D-mannopyranoside [40] and Man(al-3)[Man(al-6)]Man[49]. 

Application of liquid metals to nuclear plants requires extremely high standards. Equipment must be dependable, maintenance-free, and capable of operation at elevated temperatures. Purity of the coolant must be maintained at high levels piping systems and their components must be almost perfectly sealed. Special equipment was developed to move, measure, and maintain the liquid metals used in this service. In general, this equipment must be completely sealed and incapable of contaminating the fluid it handles. 

Nuclear plants require radioactive material to operate. Certain metals that are radioactive can be used to produce and sustain the nuclear reaction. This chapter discusses the materials used in the various nuclear applications. The student should refer to the Nuclear Physics and Reactor Theory Fundamentals Handbook prior to continuing to better understand the material in this chapter. 

It will also be important to understand the rhizosphere ecology around the roots of metal accumulating plants fully. Maximizing the bioavailabihty of the contaminant metals in this zone may require the optimization of the microbial communities, or perhaps the addition of soil amendments. There are early indications that such intervention may be beneficial (88), but research in this area is at a very early stage. 

In general, nonconventional protein foods must be competitive with conventional plant and animal protein sources on the bases of cost delivered to the consumer, nutritional value to humans or animals, functional value in foods, sensory quality, and social and cultural acceptability. Also, requirements of regulatory agencies in different countries for freedom from toxins or toxic residues in single-cell protein products, toxic glycosides in leaf protein products, pathogenic microorganisms, heavy metals and toxins in fish protein concentrates, or inhibitory or toxic peptide components in synthetic peptides must be met before new nonconventional food or feed protein products can be marketed. 

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