Zinc and the zinc proteome

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Proteomics
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Zinc(II) ions are essential cofactors in numerous protein functions.
• Traditional methods of studying zinc proteins are labor-intensive.
• 'Omics' technologies offer a high-throughput alternative.

Purpose of the Study:

• To leverage bioinformatics and 'omics' to identify and characterize zinc proteins.
• To expand the understanding of the zinc proteome and zinc's biological roles.
• To integrate diverse data for a systems-level view of zinc in health and disease.

Main Methods:

• Bioinformatic mining of sequence databases for zinc-coordination motifs.
• Analysis of known metal-binding domains and ligand signatures.
• Integration of data from bioinformatics, biology, inorganic biochemistry, and analytical/structural chemistry.

Main Results:

• Identification of approximately 3000 human zinc proteins.
• Significant contributions to understanding the composition and function of the zinc proteome.
• Highlighting limitations of current predictions, including undiscovered interactions and transient zinc binding.

Conclusions:

• Zinc proteomics, integrating multiple disciplines, provides a comprehensive view of zinc's role.
• Cellular zinc control and signaling add complexity to the zinc proteome.
• Large-scale datasets are crucial for interpreting zinc's role in health and disease at molecular and systems levels.