Zinc, an unexpected integrator of metabolism?

Even when they no longer require the presence of iron, cells use zinc as a divalent cation, involved in a large variety of catalytic and regulatory functions. This metal is so important that it appears that ribosomes are instrumental in its ultimate storage. Here, we summarize a detailed analysis which investigates the way the global cell metabolism is integrated by zinc. This integration results from the zinc‐dependent way in which the one‐carbon metabolism is always coupled to the translation process, not only via methionine and S‐adenosylmethionine, but via the complex set‐up of the modification of the position 34 of the anticodon of tRNAs.