The PROMISE (prosthetic centres andmetalions in protein activesites) database aims to present comprehensive sequence, structural, functional and bibliographic information on metalloproteins and other complex proteins, with an emphasis on active site structure and function. The database is available on the WorldWide Web at http://bioinf.leeds.ac.uk/promise/

The structural information and functional insight obtained from X-ray crystallography can be enhanced by the use of complementary spectroscopies. Here the information that can be obtained from spectroscopic methods commonly used in conjunction with X-ray crystallography and best-practice single-crystal UV-Vis absorption data collection are briefly reviewed. Using data collected with the in situ...

A method for obtaining accurate, quantitative 57Fe Mössbauer spectra from biological samples is illustrated stepwise in a data reduction procedure. Exact criteria are presented for deciding when it is necessary to account for the effects of the Beer-Lambert law in the Mössbauer spectra from biological samples. This procedure makes extensive use of the fast Fourier transform and other computer t...

The synthesis and physical properties of dimanganese(II) compounds with varying numbers of water ligands housed in the four bulky carboxylate motifs, including the first complex with a parallelogram core {Mn2(μ-OH2)2(μ-O2CR)}(3+) unit, are described. The isolation of these complexes revealed how water could alter the structural and electrochemical properties of similar carboxylate-bridged diman...

Metal-binding sites have been engineered into both de novo designed and naturally occurring proteins. Although the redesign of existing metal-binding sites in naturally occurring proteins still offers the most promise for a successful design, the more challenging goal of engineering metal-binding sites in de novo designed proteins and peptides is being achieved with increasing frequency. Creati...

Metallomics and metalloproteomics are emerging fields addressing the role, uptake, transport and storage of trace metals ions both toxic and essential for an organism. Research areas related to the understanding of the mechanisms of life processes associated to metals are covered. Similarly to the genome and proteome terms, metallome was introduced to refer to metalloproteins, metalloenzymes an...