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Metals
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Metallomics
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Metallomics

A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2016) | Viewed by 43941

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Grasso Giuseppe

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Catania, Viale Andrea Doria 6, Catania, Italy
Interests: metalloproteases; metal ions involved in neurodegenerative diseases; biomolecular interactions; enzymes activity modulation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Life on Earth has evolved according to existing environmental conditions as living organisms started to use the available elements found on the Earth crust. As the environment changed, passing from reducing conditions to more oxidized ones, life has adapted accordingly. Several elements, such as copper, zinc, and iron, suddenly became more available and living organisms started to use their unique characteristics for a wide variety of purposes. Evolution has created the great variety of living organisms that we observe today, but the foundation on which such variety thrives is the natural abundance of elements and their chemical bioavailability. Metallome is the term currently used to describe the distribution of metal ions in every cellular compartment, and the study of the metallome in living organisms is a very challenging task. Indeed, the determination of the free metal ions concentrations is not sufficient to understand metals homeostasis, as a detailed knowledge of all the metal species present in a certain biological environment is necessary in order to ascertain metal activities and their roles in biomolecular processes. Moreover, many proteins are involved in the control of metal homeostasis and utilize metal ions to carry out specific functions and, therefore, studying the proteome alone can be misleading. Analogously, other omics, such as the genome, the transcriptome, and the metabolome are intrinsically intertwined with the metallome, thus, a comprehensive analysis of the entirety of metal species within a cell or tissue type, which is metallomics, is now considered one of the most important and promising fields of investigation for scientists. In this Special Issue, we want to focus on various aspects of metallomics, as we hope that by monitoring the wide variety of metal ions destinies in living organisms, scientists will be able to provide a fundamental contribution to unveil some physiological and/or pathological biomolecular mechanisms that are involved with life and diseases.

Prof. Dr. Grasso Giuseppe
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • metal ions
  • metalloproteins
  • metalloproteases
  • metalloenzymes
  • metal complex
  • metallostasis

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Editorial

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168 KiB  
Editorial
Metals Are Main Actors in the Biological World
by Giuseppe Grasso
Metals 2017, 7(10), 422; https://doi.org/10.3390/met7100422 - 11 Oct 2017
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2876
Abstract
The word “metallomics” was introduced for the first time in 2004 [1] to describe the emerging scientific field of investigation addressing the role that metal ions have in the biological world, including their trafficking, uptake, transport, and storage.[...]
Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metallomics)

Research

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1549 KiB  
Article
Distribution and Excretion of Arsenic Metabolites after Oral Administration of Seafood-Related Organoarsenicals in Rats
by Yayoi Kobayashi and Seishiro Hirano
Metals 2016, 6(10), 231; https://doi.org/10.3390/met6100231 - 27 Sep 2016
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5120
Abstract
Less information is available on the metabolism of organic arsenicals compared to inorganic arsenic in mammals. In the present study, we investigated tissue distribution, metabolism and excretion in rats of organoarsenicals, dimethylarsinic acid (DMAV), arsenobetaine (AB), arsenocholine (AC) and trimethylarsine oxide [...] Read more.
Less information is available on the metabolism of organic arsenicals compared to inorganic arsenic in mammals. In the present study, we investigated tissue distribution, metabolism and excretion in rats of organoarsenicals, dimethylarsinic acid (DMAV), arsenobetaine (AB), arsenocholine (AC) and trimethylarsine oxide (TMAOV). Among these animals, arsenic concentrations in red blood cells (RBCs) and spleen increased remarkably only in the DMAV group. Hepatic arsenic concentration increased significantly only in the AC group. Approximately 17%, 72% and 60% of the dose was excreted in urine in two days in the DMAV, AB and AC groups, respectively; virtually the entire dose was excreted in urine in one day in the TMAOV group. On the other hand, approximately 18%, 0.2%, 0.5% and 0.1% of the dose was excreted in feces in two days in the DMAV, AB, AC and TMAOV groups, respectively. A large amount of arsenic was accumulated in RBCs in the form of protein-bound dimethylarsinous acid (DMAIII), and dimethylmonothioarsinic acid (DMMTAV), a reportedly toxic thio-arsenical, was found in urine and fecal extract in the DMAV group. These results suggest that intake of DMAV is a potential health hazard, given that the metabolites of DMAV, such as DMAIII and DMMTAV, are known to be highly toxic. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metallomics)
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1383 KiB  
Article
Synthesis, Characterization, and Cytotoxicity of a Novel Gold(III) Complex with O,O′-Diethyl Ester of Ethylenediamine-N,N′-Di-2-(4-Methyl)Pentanoic Acid
by Nebojša Pantelić, Bojana B. Zmejkovski, Dragana D. Marković, Jelena M. Vujić, Tatjana P. Stanojković, Tibor J. Sabo and Goran N. Kaluđerović
Metals 2016, 6(9), 226; https://doi.org/10.3390/met6090226 - 20 Sep 2016
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5144
Abstract
A novel gold(III) complex, [AuCl2{(S,S)-Et2eddl}]PF6, ((S,S)-Et2eddl = O,O′-diethyl ester of ethylenediamine-N,N′-di-2-(4-methyl)pentanoic acid) was synthesized and characterized by IR, 1D ( [...] Read more.
A novel gold(III) complex, [AuCl2{(S,S)-Et2eddl}]PF6, ((S,S)-Et2eddl = O,O′-diethyl ester of ethylenediamine-N,N′-di-2-(4-methyl)pentanoic acid) was synthesized and characterized by IR, 1D (1H and 13C), and 2D (H,H-COSY and H,H-NOESY) NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and elemental analysis. Density functional theory calculations confirmed that (R,R)-N,N′ diastereoisomer was energetically the most stable isomer. In vitro antitumor action of ligand precursor [(S,S)-H2Et2eddl]Cl2 and corresponding gold(III) complex was determined against tumor cell lines: human adenocarcinoma (HeLa), human colon carcinoma (LS174), human breast cancer (MCF7), non-small cell lung carcinoma cell line (A549), and non-cancerous cell line human embryonic lung fibroblast (MRC-5) using microculture tetrazolium test (MTT) assay. The results indicate that both ligand precursor and gold(III) complex have showed very good to moderate cytotoxic activity against all tested malignant cell lines. The highest activity was expressed by [AuCl2{(S,S)-Et2eddl}]PF6 against the LS174 cells, with IC50 value of 7.4 ± 1.2 µM. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metallomics)
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3590 KiB  
Article
Molecular Docking and Aberration-Corrected STEM of Palladium Nanoparticles on Viral Templates
by Liliana Carreño-Fuentes, Daniel Bahena, Laura A. Palomares, Octavio T. Ramírez, Miguel José-Yacamán and Germán Plascencia-Villa
Metals 2016, 6(9), 200; https://doi.org/10.3390/met6090200 - 25 Aug 2016
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 6759
Abstract
Viral templates are highly versatile biotemplates used for the synthesis of nanostructured materials. Rotavirus VP6 self-assembles into nanotubular hollow structures with well-defined diameters and variable lengths, serving as a nucleic acid-free biotemplate to synthesize metal nanoparticles of controlled size, shape, and orientation. Molecular [...] Read more.
Viral templates are highly versatile biotemplates used for the synthesis of nanostructured materials. Rotavirus VP6 self-assembles into nanotubular hollow structures with well-defined diameters and variable lengths, serving as a nucleic acid-free biotemplate to synthesize metal nanoparticles of controlled size, shape, and orientation. Molecular docking simulations show that exposed residues (H173-S240-D242 and N200-N310) of VP6 have the ability to specifically bind Pd(II) ions, which serve as nucleation sites for the growth and stabilization of palladium nanoclusters. Using VP6 nanotubes as biotemplates allows for obtaining small Pd particles of 1–5 nm in diameter. Advanced electron microscopy imaging and characterization through ultra-high-resolution field-emission scanning electron microscopy (UHR-FE-SEM) and spherical aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (Cs-STEM) at a low voltage dose (80 kV) reveals, with high spatial resolution, the structure of Pd nanoparticles attached to the macromolecular biotemplates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metallomics)
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2032 KiB  
Article
Interaction and Binding Modes of bis-Ruthenium(II) Complex to Synthetic DNAs
by Hasi Rani Barai, Dong Jin Lee, Sung Wook Han and Yoon Jung Jang
Metals 2016, 6(6), 141; https://doi.org/10.3390/met6060141 - 16 Jun 2016
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5111
Abstract
[μ-(linker)L2(dipyrido[3,2-a:2′,3′-c]phenazine)2(phenanthroline)2Ru(II)2]2+ with linker: 1,3-bis-(4-pyridyl)-propane, L: PF6 (bis-Ru-bpp) was synthesized and their binding properties to a various polynucleotides were investigated by spectroscopy, including normal absorption, circular [...] Read more.
[μ-(linker)L2(dipyrido[3,2-a:2′,3′-c]phenazine)2(phenanthroline)2Ru(II)2]2+ with linker: 1,3-bis-(4-pyridyl)-propane, L: PF6 (bis-Ru-bpp) was synthesized and their binding properties to a various polynucleotides were investigated by spectroscopy, including normal absorption, circular dichroism(CD), linear dichroism(LD), and luminescence techniques in this study. On binding to polynucleotides, the bis-Ru-bpp complex with poly[d(A-T)2], and poly[d(I-C)2] exhibited a negative LDr signal whose intensity was as large as that in the DNA absorption region, followed by a complicated LDr signal in the metal-to-ligand charge transfer region. Also, the emission intensity and equilibrium constant of the bis-Ru-bpp complex with poly[d(A-T)2], and poly[d(I-C)2] were enhanced. It was reported that both of dppz ligand of the bis-Ru-bpp complex intercalated between DNA base-pairs when bound to native, mixed sequence DNA. Observed spectral properties resemble to those observed for poly[d(A-T)2] and poly[d(I-C)2], led us to be concluded that both dppz ligands intercalate between alternated AT and IC bases-pairs In contrast when bis-Ru-bpp complex was bound to poly[d(G-C)2], the magnitude of the LDr in the dppz absorption region, as well as the emission intensity, was half in comparison to that of bound to poly[d(A-T)2], and poly[d(I-C)2]. Therefore the spectral properties of the bis-Ru-bpp-poly[d(G-C)2] complex suggested deviation from bis-intercalation model in the poly[d(G-C)2] case. These results can be explained by a model whereby one of the dppz ligands is intercalated while the other is exposed to solvent or may exist near to phosphate. Also it is indicative that the amine group of guanine in the minor groove provides the steric hindrance for incoming intercalation binder and it also takes an important role in a difference in binding of bis-Ru-bpp bound to poly[d(A-T)2] and poly[d(I-C)2]. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metallomics)
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Review

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2390 KiB  
Review
Parameters Influencing Zinc in Experimental Systems in Vivo and in Vitro
by Johanna Ollig, Veronika Kloubert, Inga Weßels, Hajo Haase and Lothar Rink
Metals 2016, 6(3), 71; https://doi.org/10.3390/met6030071 - 21 Mar 2016
Cited by 41 | Viewed by 10293
Abstract
In recent years, the role of zinc in biological systems has been a subject of intense research. Despite wide increase in our knowledge and understanding of zinc homeostasis, numerous questions remain to be answered, encouraging further research. In particular, the quantification of intracellular [...] Read more.
In recent years, the role of zinc in biological systems has been a subject of intense research. Despite wide increase in our knowledge and understanding of zinc homeostasis, numerous questions remain to be answered, encouraging further research. In particular, the quantification of intracellular zinc ions and fluctuation, as well as the function of zinc in signaling processes are being intensely investigated. The determination of free intracellular zinc ions is difficult and error-prone, as concentrations are extremely low (in the pico- to nanomolar range), but techniques exist involving fluorescent probes and sensors. In spite of zinc deficiency being accepted as a global problem, causing death and disease worldwide, to date there are no markers to reliably assess a person’s zinc status. This review summarizes the difficulties and major pitfalls when working with zinc in in vitro and in vivo research. Additionally, it specifies important aspects for zinc substitution and supplementation, including the bioavailability of zinc and its intestinal absorption. In particular, it is intended to help researchers with yet minor experience working with zinc efficiently set up experiments and avoid commonly occurring mistakes, starting with the choice and preparation of reagents and instrumentation, and concluding with possibilities for measuring the status of zinc in humans. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metallomics)
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537 KiB  
Review
Iron, Aging, and Neurodegeneration
by Dafina M. Angelova and David R. Brown
Metals 2015, 5(4), 2070-2092; https://doi.org/10.3390/met5042070 - 06 Nov 2015
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 7058
Abstract
Iron is a trace element of considerable interest to both chemistry and biology. In a biological context its chemistry is vital to the roles it performs. However, that same chemistry can contribute to a more deleterious role in a variety of diseases. The [...] Read more.
Iron is a trace element of considerable interest to both chemistry and biology. In a biological context its chemistry is vital to the roles it performs. However, that same chemistry can contribute to a more deleterious role in a variety of diseases. The brain is a very sensitive organ due to the irreplaceable nature of neurons. In this regard regulation of brain iron chemistry is essential to maintaining neuronal viability. During the course of normal aging, the brain changes the way it deals with iron and this can contribute to its susceptibility to disease. Additionally, many of the known neurodegenerative diseases have been shown to be influenced by changes in brain iron. This review examines the role of iron in the brain and neurodegenerative diseases and the potential role of changes in brain iron caused by aging. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metallomics)
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