title: Precious metal economy.
abstract: The zebrafish is emerging as a system of choice for modeling human disease. In this issue of Cell Metabolism, Mendelsohn et al. (2006) describe a model for Menkes disease, a genetic disorder in copper utilization. Using genetic and chemical screens, the authors highlight the impact of maternal nutrition on embryo development. The work reveals a hierarchy of temporal and dosage-dependent phenotypes for copper nutrition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Sabeeha S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Merchant
authors.forename: Alvaro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sagasti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003300:Copper / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D007706:Menkes Kinky Hair Syndrome / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: D003300:Copper