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Assembling the pieces

Abstract

Transition metals function as cofactors in specific proteins, catalyzing electron exchange reactions, binding substrates and stabilizing protein structure. Studies of human diseases and of model organisms have defined many of the molecular details of metal uptake, trafficking, and excretion. The current challenge is to integrate these details into a systematic view of metal content, speciation, localization and use within organisms and ecosystems.

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Figure 1: X-ray fluorescence microtomography of Arabidopsis seed.
Figure 2: Gene dosage of atp7a reveals a developmental hierarchy of copper metabolism.

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Acknowledgements

We thank members of our laboratories for insights and discussions on the ideas presented here. The work presented from the authors laboratories was supported by US National Institutes of Health grants DK44464 (J.D.G.), DK61763 (J.D.G.), HD39522 (J.D.G.), GM41840 (D.J.T.), DK074192 (D.J.T.) and 5P42ES010356 (D.J.T.).

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Thiele, D., Gitlin, J. Assembling the pieces. Nat Chem Biol 4, 145–147 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio0308-145

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