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The elements of life and medicines
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Chellan , Prinessa and Sadler, P. J. (2015) The elements of life and medicines. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A : Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Volume 373 (Number 2037). Article number 20140182. doi:10.1098/rsta.2014.0182 ISSN 1364-503X.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0182
Abstract
Which elements are essential for human life? Here we make an element-by-element journey through the periodic table and attempt to assess whether elements are essential or not, and if they are, whether there is a relevant code for them in the human genome. There are many difficulties such as the human biochemistry of several so-called essential elements is not well understood, and it is not clear how we should classify elements that are involved in the destruction of invading microorganisms, or elements which are essential for microorganisms with which we live in symbiosis. In general, genes do not code for the elements themselves, but for specific chemical species, i.e. for the element, its oxidation state, type and number of coordinated ligands, and the coordination geometry. Today, the biological periodic table is in a position somewhat similar to Mendeleev's chemical periodic table of 1869: there are gaps and we need to do more research to fill them. The periodic table also offers potential for novel therapeutic and diagnostic agents, based on not only essential elements, but also non-essential elements, and on radionuclides. Although the potential for inorganic chemistry in medicine was realized more than 2000 years ago, this area of research is still in its infancy. Future advances in the design of inorganic drugs require more knowledge of their mechanism of action, including target sites and metabolism. Temporal speciation of elements in their biological environments at the atomic level is a major challenge, for which new methods are urgently needed.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QD Chemistry Q Science > QH Natural history |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Chemistry | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Chemical elements, Metals in medicine | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A : Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences | ||||
Publisher: | The Royal Society Publishing | ||||
ISSN: | 1364-503X | ||||
Official Date: | 8 February 2015 | ||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Volume 373 | ||||
Number: | Number 2037 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 56 | ||||
Article Number: | Article number 20140182 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1098/rsta.2014.0182 | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 29 December 2015 | ||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 29 December 2015 | ||||
Funder: | National Research Foundation (South Africa) (NRF), European Research Council (ERC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (Great Britain) (BBSRC) | ||||
Grant number: | 247450 (ERC), EP/F034210/1 (EPSRC) |
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