Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về sinh học được đăng trên tạp chí sinh học Journal of Biology đề tài: Aquaglyceroporins: ancient channels for metalloids. | Journal of Biology BioMed Central Minireview Aquaglyceroporins ancient channels for metalloids Hiranmoy Bhattacharjee Rita Mukhopadhyay Saravanamuthu Thiyagarajan and Barry P Rosen Address Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Wayne State University School of Medicine Detroit MI 48201 USA. Correspondence Barry P Rosen. Email brosen@ Published 7 November 2008 Journal of Biology 2008 7 33 doi jbiol9I The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at http content 7 9 33 2008 BioMed Central Ltd Abstract The identification of aquaglyceroporins as uptake channels for arsenic and antimony shows how these toxic elements can enter the food chain and suggests that food plants could be genetically modified to exclude arsenic while still accumulating boron and silicon. Arsenic a metalloid is widely distributed in the Earth s crust and is toxic to all forms of life. Humans can be exposed to arsenic from drinking water that has flowed through arsenic-rich rocks or from crops that have been irrigated with arsenic-contaminated water. Arsenic occurs predominantly in the environment as the pentavalent arsenate As V and trivalent arsenite As III forms. Arsenite is more toxic than arsenate and is primarily responsible for the biological effects of arsenic. The toxicity of arsenite is due to its affinity for closely spaced cysteine thiolates it inactivates enzymes and receptors by binding to active site cysteine residues or by preventing formation of disulfide bonds. Arsenite also leads to the production of reactive oxygen species by binding to reduced glutathione. In addition to the severe health effects of arsenic in drinking water its accumulation in crops such as rice jeopardizes the safety of our food supply 1 . An understanding of the pathways of arsenic uptake metabolism and elimination will help in developing strategies to produce plants that take up essential metalloids while excluding toxic ones. .
