Copper ions vs. lifestyle diseases – A step closer to solve the puzzle
In the recent years, there has been a growing number of scientific reports on the interactions between metal ions and peptides in the body with Alzheimer's disease or type 2 diabetes. Molecular aspects of these interactions still remain to be elucidated. Researchers around the world, including team of Prof. Wojciech Bal from the PAS Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, are working hard to fill the knowledge gaps. His group has found that the mechanism by which the copper ions bind to proteins and the time involved are different than previously thought.
The results have just been published in the leading chemical journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition. The importance of the findings has already been recognized by the editors, who gave it a hot paper status.
Coppers’ role in the body
Copper is an essential trace element in all living organisms. It is necessary, among others for the production and storage of energy in the mitochondria – the energy suppliers of the body. There are more and more reports linking metal ions misbalance with occurrence of diabetes, cancer or nervous system diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease.
These processes have been studied for many years by Prof. Wojciech Bal. His team has just found another missing piece of the puzzle. Scholars from the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences joined forces with colleagues from Delft University of Technology (Netherlands) and Warsaw University of Technology.
New findings
Researchers tested how quickly copper ions react with a synthetic peptide that binds this microelement in the same way as natural proteins, transporting it between blood and cells.
Until now, it was thought to be a one-step process that takes place within microseconds. However, studies carried out in Warsaw and Delft have shown that the process has three stages. In the slowest of the stages, a previously unknown reactive intermediate species persists for nearly a second. It is the missing link in the process of copper transport to cells, for which only the unreactive final state was known.
This discovery opens the way for detailed biological research, and in a longer perspective also to a more complete understanding of the causes of lifestyle diseases and the development of more effective prevention strategies.
The tests were carried out with chemical kinetics, electrochemistry and electron spectroscopy methods. During the experiments, researchers used unique equipment capable of freezing the reaction state on a microsecond scale, available in the laboratory of Prof. Peter-Leon Hagedoorn in Delft.
Source of information and graphics: PAS Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Publication: Radosław Kotuniak, Marc J.F. Strampraad, Karolina Bossak-Ahmad, Urszula E. Wawrzyniak, Iwona Ufnalska, Peter-Leon Hagedoorn, Wojciech Bal, Key intermediate species reveal the Cu(II) exchange pathway in biorelevant ATCUN/NTS complexes, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2020.
