Iron is crucial for oxygen transport and energy production
Managing Oxygen and metabolism
Iron is crucial to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) replication and integrity.
Iron is an essential redox element that functions as a cofactor in many metabolic pathways. Iron makes up only 0.006% of our mass but is essential for managing our oxygen-dependent metabolism.
Iron is crucial for oxygen transport and energy production
Managing Oxygen and metabolism
Iron is crucial to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) replication and integrity.
Iron is an essential redox element that functions as a cofactor in many metabolic pathways. Iron makes up only 0.006% of our mass but is essential for managing our oxygen-dependent metabolism.
Iron is crucial to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) replication and integrity
Critical enzymes in DNA repair (helicases, nucleases, glycosylases, demethylases) and ribonucleotide reductase, use iron as an indispensable cofactor to function.
The catalytic subunit of DNA polymerases also binds iron-sulfur (Fe/S) clusters that are essential for the formation of stable and active complexes.
Defects in Fe/S cluster biogenesis and insertion into the nuclear iron-requiring enzymes involved in DNA synthesis and repair lead to DNA damage and genome instability. Redox active Fe/S centers present in DNA repair machinery components are critical for detecting and repairing DNA mismatches along the genome by long-range charge transfers through double-stranded DNA.
These connections between iron and DNA replication and repair have implications in cancer, aging and other DNA-related diseases.
Our genome reflects the importance of iron