The biological chemistry of the elements

Oxford University Press

2001

xvii, 575 p.

Includes bibliographical references and index

9780198508472

The chemical and physical factors controlling the elements of life -- The chemical elements in biology -- The element content of living systems -- An aside: some biological chemistry of hydrogen -- The economical use of resources: abundance and availability -- Biological environment and element availability -- Sulphide chemistry in water (anaerobes) -- A note on homeostasis -- Survival and evolution -- The principles of the uptake and chemical speciation of the elements in biology -- Introduction to chemical speciation -- The separations that biology can achieve -- The selective uptake of metal ions -- Effective stability constants -- Element uptake at equilibrium: the selectivity of the uptake -- Hydrolysis: hydroxides and oxenes -- Selective control of oxidation states of metals -- Selection by control of concentration of M and L -- Selection by transfer coefficients from water to proteins (or membranes) -- Selection at surfaces and in precipitates -- The selectivity of channels -- Kinetic effects and control -- Rejection of metal ions -- General aspects of the uptake of essential non-metals -- Mechanisms of selection of anions based on thermodynamic properties -- Redox incorporation of anions -- Coenzymes -- Precipitates in comparatments: cation and anion cooperativity -- The application of equilibria and equilibrium exchange to carriers, buffers, pumps, enzymes and gene regulation -- Genetic regulation-an introduction to control of ligand (protein) concentration -- Concluding remarks: element handling in biological systems

"Twenty inorganic elements, mostly metal ions, are consistently found in living systems and are essential for living systems to function correctly. This text discusses, describes and explains the functional relevance of those elements: the reasons for their selection; the processes of their uptake; transport and final localization in cells; the regulation of these processes; and the interactive network of their reactions that connects the in vivo inorganic elements to the environment and to the genome. The volume has been thoroughly revised for this second edition and includes a discussion of the link to the genome of the uptake and transfer of inorganic elements and the regulation of homeostasis, the functional co-operative activities of the elements, the interaction with the environment, and the evolution of usage. Recent structural and mechanistic knowledge of many biomolecules and organelles is also included."

Английский