Detection of similarity is particularly difficult for small proteins and thus connections between many of them remain unnoticed. Structure and sequence analysis of several metal-binding proteins reveals unexpected similarities in structural domains classified as different protein folds in SCOP and suggests unification of seven folds that belong to two protein classes. The common motif, termed t...

Metallothionein was purified under anaerobic conditions from livers of human fetuses ranging from 19 weeks gestational age to term. Homogeneous metallothionein obtained in the absence of reducing agents from the soluble fraction of the tissue which contained 24% and 85% of the total liver copper and zinc, respectively, had less than 1 g atom of copper and about 3.1 g atoms of zinc/mol. Extracti...

Despite decades of research on the effects of zinc in infectious diarrhea, there is surprisingly little consensus on how zinc works (or even if it works), on whether zinc’s effects are pathogen-specific, and what patient populations are most likely to benefit from zinc supplementation. Some recent articles focus on the growthpromoting effects of zinc on the pathogen itself, leading the reader t...

To obtain rich in organic forms of zinc extracts of Lentinus edodes, possessing putative higher immunostimulating properties than actually used, mycelia were cultivated in zinc(II) enriched media. Culture media were enriched in zinc in concentration ranging from 0 to 90 microg mL(-1), added to the medium before inoculation. Total zinc concentration in submerged cultivated mycelial biomass has b...

Doping of zinc with silver, palladium, and gold was found to increase reactivity towards carbon tetrachloride in water. Commercial zinc dust, cryochemically prepared zinc metal particles (SMAD nanoparticles), and zinc dust pressed into pellets (mechanically activated zinc) were employed. Reduction products detected were methane, ethylene, acetylene, and other hydrocarbons along with products of...

The intraerythrocytic Plasmodium falciparum parasite converts most of host hemoglobin heme into a nontoxic heme crystal. Erythrocyte zinc protoporphyrin IX, normally present at 0.5 microM, which is a ratio of 1:40,000 hemes, can elevate 10-fold in some of the anemias associated with malaria disease protection. This work examines a binding mechanism for zinc protoporphyrin IX inhibition of heme ...

Everted sacs of rat duodenum and ileum were used to study the effect of anions and organic ligands on the absorption of zinc. The uptake per unit weight of tissue was greater in duodenum than ileum, and it was influenced by the Zn concentration and pH of the incubation medium. The Zn uptake from inorganic salts in simple buffered medium varied in the order zinc sulphate greater than zinc chlori...

We have previously shown that glutathione (GSH) and glutathione disulfide interact with metallothionein (MT) and modulate its capacity to donate and transfer zinc. In this paper, we show that ATP also forms a 1:1 complex with MT (Kd = 176 +/- 33 microM, pH 7. 4) that enhances the transfer of zinc to zinc-depleted sorbitol dehydrogenase, increases the rate of thiol-disulfide interchange with Ell...

The ability of metallothionein (MT) to modulate DNA binding by a two-finger peptide of Tramtrack (TTK), a CCHH zinc transcription factor, was investigated using metal-bound and metal-deficient forms of rabbit MT-2 and the TTK peptide. Thionein inhibited DNA binding by zinc-bound TTK, and Zn-MT restored DNA-binding by zinc-deficient apo-TTK. "Free" zinc at low concentrations was as effective as ...

Zinc is essential to supporting growth in young children especially for tissues undergoing rapid cellular differentiation and turnover, such as those in the immune system and gastrointestinal tract. Therapeutic zinc supplementation has been initiated in low-income countries as part of diarrhea treatment programs to support these needs for young children, but the effects of preventive supplement...