Zinc plays both structural and catalytic roles in metalloproteins.
Zinc is bound to the catalytic site of zinc-dependent hydrolases by three amino acid residues, commonly histidines and glutamic acid, and to the structural site of gene transcription regulators by cysteine and histidine. Site-directed mutagenesis of even one catalytic-site ligand destroys enzyme activity without changing physical properties of the protein, including immunoreactivity. However, nutritional studies demonstrating loss of transcriptional activity upon zinc deprivation have not been reported.
O'Dell
B L
BL
Department of Biochemistry, University of Missouri, Columbia 65211.
D000596:Amino Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008667:Metalloproteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D015032:Zinc / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
D000596:Amino Acids; D008667:Metalloproteins; D015032:Zinc