VANADIUM IN BIOLOGY: ITS CHEMISTRY AND SOME OF ITS CONTRIBUTIONS ON ENVIRONMENTAL CYCLES OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS

Vanadium is essential for a considerable number of species from different kingdoms of eukaryotes and prokaryotes, but is less required for organisms belonging to higher ranks of evolutionary tree of life. The essentiality of vanadium for humans is not known, although for some mammals (such as, goats...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inChemical physics research journal Vol. 5; no. 3/4; p. 207
Main Author da Silva, José A L
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hauppauge Nova Science Publishers, Inc 01.07.2012
Subjects
Aqueous solutions
Biogeochemistry
Biology
Biomolecules
Biosphere
Carbon
Chemical elements
Chemistry
Earth
Ecosystem biology
Ecosystems
Enzymes
Evolutionary
Fungi
Goats
Halogens
Molybdenum
Organisms
Oxidation
Sediments
Vanadium
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Summary:Vanadium is essential for a considerable number of species from different kingdoms of eukaryotes and prokaryotes, but is less required for organisms belonging to higher ranks of evolutionary tree of life. The essentiality of vanadium for humans is not known, although for some mammals (such as, goats and rats) it is indispensable, but in these cases the biomolecules containing it have not yet been identified. Note that vanadium in biology is associated probably in all cases with redox reactions. At least one vanadium enzyme (nitrogenase) participates in modern nitrogen cycle. The relevance of this non-metal as restraining biomass formation gives to vanadium a considerable contribute on this process. Furthermore, its nitrogenase comprises a specific capacity of CO-reducing, suggesting that a precursor of this current enzyme were associated to ancient carbon cycles. Vanadium-haloperoxidases are linked to halogen cycles (except fluorine that is not substrate of these enzymes), including in production of volatile organic halogenated compounds, which are important in regulation of ozone levels in the atmosphere.
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ISSN:1935-2492