Biological Inorganic Chemistry: Structure and Reactivity

Book Preface

Life depends on the proper functioning of proteins and nucleic acids that very often are in combinations with metal ions. Elucidation of the structures and reactivities of metalloproteins and other metallobiomolecules is the central goal of biological inorganic chemistry.

One of the grand challenges of the 21st century is to deduce how a specific gene sequence codes for a metalloprotein. Such knowledge of genomic maps will contribute to the goal of understanding the molecular mechanisms of life. Specific annotations
to a sequence often allude to the requirement of metals for protein function, but it is not yet possible to read that information from sequence alone. Work in biological inorganic chemistry is critically important in this context.

Our goal at the outset was to capture the full vibrancy of the field in a textbook. Our book is divided into Part A, ‘‘Overviews of Biological Inorganic Chemistry,’’ which sets forth the unifying principles of the field, and Part B, ‘‘Metal Ion Containing Biological Systems,’’ which treats specific systems in detail. Tutorials are included for those who wish to review the basics of biology and inorganic chemistry; and theAppendices provide useful information, as does ‘‘Physical Methods in Bioinorganic Chemistry’’ (see Appendix III), which we highly recommend.

Biological inorganic chemistry is a very hot area. It has been our good fortune to work with many exceptionally talented contributors in putting together a volume that we believe will be a valuable resource both for young investigators and for more senior scholars in the field.
—The Editors

Contents
List of Contributors xix
Preface xxiii
Acknowledgments xxv
Chapter I Introduction and Text Overview 1
PART A Overviews of Biological
Inorganic Chemistry 5
Chapter II Bioinorganic Chemistry and the Biogeochemical Cycles 7
Chapter III Metal Ions and Proteins: Binding, Stability, and Folding 31
Chapter IV Special Cofactors and Metal Clusters 43
Chapter V Transport and Storage of Metal Ions in Biology 57
Chapter VI Biominerals and Biomineralization 79
Chapter VII Metals in Medicine 95
PART B Metal Ion Containing Biological Systems 137
Chapter VIII Metal Ion Transport and Storage 139
Chapter IX Hydrolytic Chemistry 175
Chapter X Electron Transfer, Respiration, and Photosynthesis 229
Chapter XI Oxygen Metabolism 319
Chapter XII Hydrogen, Carbon, and Sulfur Metabolism 443
Chapter XIII Metalloenzymes with Radical Intermediates 557
Chapter XIV Metal Ion Receptors and Signaling 613
Cell Biology, Biochemistry, and Evolution: Tutorial I 657
Fundamentals of Coordination Chemistry: Tutorial II 695 vii
Appendix I Abbreviations 713
Appendix II Glossary 717
Appendix III The Literature of Biological Inorganic Chemistry 727
Appendix IV Introduction to the Protein Data Bank (PDB) 729
Index 731