Iron biology
Managing Oxygen and Metabolism
Though oxygen is essentially a waste product of photosynthesis, animal life is dependent on it. Though we think of ourselves as carbon-based life forms, humans are 65% oxygen by mass – mostly as water (H2O).
Oxygen (O2) is critical to aerobic metabolism which is the primary energy-producing chemistry driving metabolism and sustaining life.
Oxygen atoms are very reactive and are incorporated into many common chemical compounds: water (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur oxides (SO2 and SO3), and nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2).
Unstable oxidative radicals can form damaging compounds like hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), superoxide (O2-) and hydroxyl radical (OH).
Iron is the key element allowing us to biologically manage highly reactive Oxygen which would otherwise destroy our proteins, lipids and nucleic acids.