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Heavy Metals and Metalloids As a Cause for Protein Misfolding and Aggregation

While the toxicity of metals and metalloids, like arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead and chromium, is undisputed, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not entirely clear. General consensus holds that proteins are the prime targets; heavy metals interfere with the physiological activity of specific,...

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Autores principales: Tamás, Markus J., Sharma, Sandeep K., Ibstedt, Sebastian, Jacobson, Therese, Christen, Philipp
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4030994/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24970215
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom4010252
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author Tamás, Markus J.
Sharma, Sandeep K.
Ibstedt, Sebastian
Jacobson, Therese
Christen, Philipp
author_facet Tamás, Markus J.
Sharma, Sandeep K.
Ibstedt, Sebastian
Jacobson, Therese
Christen, Philipp
author_sort Tamás, Markus J.
collection PubMed
description While the toxicity of metals and metalloids, like arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead and chromium, is undisputed, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not entirely clear. General consensus holds that proteins are the prime targets; heavy metals interfere with the physiological activity of specific, particularly susceptible proteins, either by forming a complex with functional side chain groups or by displacing essential metal ions in metalloproteins. Recent studies have revealed an additional mode of metal action targeted at proteins in a non-native state; certain heavy metals and metalloids have been found to inhibit the in vitro refolding of chemically denatured proteins, to interfere with protein folding in vivo and to cause aggregation of nascent proteins in living cells. Apparently, unfolded proteins with motile backbone and side chains are considerably more prone to engage in stable, pluridentate metal complexes than native proteins with their well-defined 3D structure. By interfering with the folding process, heavy metal ions and metalloids profoundly affect protein homeostasis and cell viability. This review describes how heavy metals impede protein folding and promote protein aggregation, how cells regulate quality control systems to protect themselves from metal toxicity and how metals might contribute to protein misfolding disorders.
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spelling pubmed-40309942014-06-24 Heavy Metals and Metalloids As a Cause for Protein Misfolding and Aggregation Tamás, Markus J. Sharma, Sandeep K. Ibstedt, Sebastian Jacobson, Therese Christen, Philipp Biomolecules Review While the toxicity of metals and metalloids, like arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead and chromium, is undisputed, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not entirely clear. General consensus holds that proteins are the prime targets; heavy metals interfere with the physiological activity of specific, particularly susceptible proteins, either by forming a complex with functional side chain groups or by displacing essential metal ions in metalloproteins. Recent studies have revealed an additional mode of metal action targeted at proteins in a non-native state; certain heavy metals and metalloids have been found to inhibit the in vitro refolding of chemically denatured proteins, to interfere with protein folding in vivo and to cause aggregation of nascent proteins in living cells. Apparently, unfolded proteins with motile backbone and side chains are considerably more prone to engage in stable, pluridentate metal complexes than native proteins with their well-defined 3D structure. By interfering with the folding process, heavy metal ions and metalloids profoundly affect protein homeostasis and cell viability. This review describes how heavy metals impede protein folding and promote protein aggregation, how cells regulate quality control systems to protect themselves from metal toxicity and how metals might contribute to protein misfolding disorders. MDPI 2014-02-25 /pmc/articles/PMC4030994/ /pubmed/24970215 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom4010252 Text en © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Tamás, Markus J.
Sharma, Sandeep K.
Ibstedt, Sebastian
Jacobson, Therese
Christen, Philipp
Heavy Metals and Metalloids As a Cause for Protein Misfolding and Aggregation
title Heavy Metals and Metalloids As a Cause for Protein Misfolding and Aggregation
title_full Heavy Metals and Metalloids As a Cause for Protein Misfolding and Aggregation
title_fullStr Heavy Metals and Metalloids As a Cause for Protein Misfolding and Aggregation
title_full_unstemmed Heavy Metals and Metalloids As a Cause for Protein Misfolding and Aggregation
title_short Heavy Metals and Metalloids As a Cause for Protein Misfolding and Aggregation
title_sort heavy metals and metalloids as a cause for protein misfolding and aggregation
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4030994/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24970215
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom4010252
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