In the last few years, various studies have been providing evidence that metal ions are critically involved in the pathogenesis of major neurological diseases (Alzheimer, Parkinson). Metal ion chelators have been suggested as potential therapies for diseases involving metal ion imbalance. Neurodegeneration is an excellent target for exploiting the metal chelator approach to therapeutics. In con...

1974 First use of immobilized chelators to isolate metalloproteins 1975 First description of general technique (IMAC) using IDA 1983 Introduction of high performance on silica based media 1986 Use of Fe3# chelates to purify phosphoproteins 1987 Introduction of NTA 1988 Introduction of genetically engineered His tags 1992 Introduction of TREN 1998 Introduction of TACN Freeze NH (1995) Lectin afR...

The safe decomposition of solid TATP (triacetone triperoxide) explosive is examined theoretically. The route to destruction starts with formation of metal complexes between a metal ion and the TATP molecule. The second step is decomposition of the molecules into stable final products. We examined the structure and stability of both metal ion (including Na(+), Cu(+), Cu(2+), Co(2+), and Zn(2+)) ...

Experimental data on cadmium (II) and nickel (II) ion sorption on deactivated protonated yeast over a wide range of sorbent and initial metal concentrations, were analyzed by an equilibrium model based on a thermodynamics approach. Model describes relationships between the equilibrium concentration of metal, metal sorption per unit biomass dosage and concentration of sorbent and initial metal c...

In order to investigate the mechanism of the reaction catalyzed by HindIII, structures of HindIII-DNA complexes with varying durations of soaking time in cryoprotectant buffer containing manganese ions were determined by the freeze-trap method. In the crystal structures of the complexes obtained after soaking for a longer duration, two manganese ions, indicated by relatively higher electron den...

The structure of a protein determines its function and its interactions with other factors. Regions of proteins that interact with ligands, substrates, and/or other proteins, tend to be conserved both in sequence and structure, and the residues involved are usually in close spatial proximity. More than 70,000 protein structures are currently found in the Protein Data Bank, and approximately one...

In two-metal catalysis, metal ion A has been proposed to activate the nucleophile and metal ion B to stabilize the transition state. We recently reported crystal structures of RNase H-RNA/DNA substrate complexes obtained at 1.5-2.2 Angstroms. We have now determined and report here structures of reaction intermediate and product complexes of RNase H at 1.65-1.85 Angstroms. The movement of the tw...

A simple ion imprinted amino-functionalized sorbent was synthesized by coupling activated carbon with iminodiacetic acid, a functional compound for metal chelating, through cyanoric chloride spacer. The resulting sorbent has been characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and evaluated for the preconcentration and de...

Within the three-dimensional architectures of RNA molecules, divalent metal ions populate specific locations, shedding their water molecules to form chelates. These interactions help the RNA adopt and maintain specific conformations and frequently make essential contributions to function. Defining the locations of these site-bound metal ions remains challenging despite the growing database of R...

Integrins are cell-surface heterodimeric proteins that mediate cell-cell, cell-matrix, and cell-pathogen interactions. Half of the known integrin alpha subunits contain inserted domains (I domains) that coordinate ligand through a metal ion. Although the importance of conformational changes within isolated I domains in regulating ligand binding has been reported, the relationship between metal ...