The zinc content of mosquitoes in various developmental stages was determined by spectrographic and microchemical analysis and use of zinc(65) and found to be five to ten times higher than other trace elements. Also the concentration of zinc in the mosquito was much greater than in other insects of different biological orders. Over 90 per cent of this element was localized in the Malpighian tub...

Zinc is an essential micronutrient. Genes responsible for zinc uptake have now been identified from yeast and plants. These genes belong to an extended family of cation transporters called the ZIP gene family. Zinc efflux genes that belong to another transporter family, the CDF family, have also been identified in yeast and Arabidopsis. It is clear that studies in yeast can greatly aid our unde...

.................................................................................................................................vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Iron Nutrition in Humans and Iron Deficiency ..................................................................... 1 1.2 Zinc in Human...

Zinc is an essential nutrient for all living organisms because it is a co-factor of several important proteins. Furthermore, zinc may play an essential role in the infectiousness of microorganisms. Previously, we determined that functional zinc metabolism is associated with Cryptococcus gattii virulence. Here, we characterized the ZIP zinc transporters in this human pathogen. Transcriptional pr...

The ZIP zinc transporter family is responsible for zinc uptake from the extracellular milieu or intracellular vesicles. The LIV-1 subfamily, containing nine out of the 14 human ZIP proteins, is featured with a large extracellular domain (ECD). The critical role of the ECD is manifested by disease-causing mutations on ZIP4, a representative LIV-1 protein. Here we report the first crystal structu...

A field experiment was conducted in the years 2008– 2010 at the Research Station of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, on brown soil with slightly acidic pH and average abundance of copper, zinc, manganese, and iron. The experiment was set up in a randomized split-plot design with four replications, with two methods for controlling weed infestation: I. ...

The aim of the study was to estimate the influence of soil pH on the uptake of copper, zinc, and manganese by Valeriana officinalis. Preliminary studies involved soil analyses to determine acidity, organic matter content, and copper, zinc, and manganese total and bioavailable forms. The study involved atomic absorption spectrometry to determine the concentration of the elements, and mineral soi...

AIM To test the effect of the dephytinization of three different commercial infant cereals on iron, calcium, and zinc bioavailability by estimating the uptake, retention, and transport by Caco-2 cells. METHODS Both dephytinized (by adding an exogenous phytase) and non-dephytinized infant cereals were digested using an in vitro digestion protocol adapted to the gastrointestinal conditions of i...

Regulation of metal ion homeostasis is essential to bacterial cell survival, and in most species it is controlled by metal-dependent transcriptional regulators. In this study, we describe a Corynebacterium diphtheriae ferric uptake regulator-family protein, Zur, that controls expression of genes involved in zinc uptake. By measuring promoter activities and mRNA levels, we demonstrate that Zur r...

Two different zinc oxide nanoparticles, as well as zinc ions, are used to study the cellular responses of the RAW 264 macrophage cell line. A proteomic screen is used to provide a wide view of the molecular effects of zinc, and the most prominent results are cross-validated by targeted studies. Furthermore, the alteration of important macrophage functions (e.g. phagocytosis) by zinc is also inv...