Donostia Abstract

What Eli should (but won’t) do next!

Christopher Exley

Birchall Centre for Inorganic Chemistry and Materials Science, Lennard-Jones Laboratories, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK.

Eli has provided an insight into what may happen when metal (aluminium) meets binding site. She has told us if the latter binds the former and if it does, for how long and with which consequences for the ‘functionality’ of the binding site within the larger ‘parent’ molecule. Binding of essential metals such as magnesium supports essential function in the accepting molecule whereas binding of rogue metals such as aluminium may distort essential function in some circumstances. Eli’s reactions are always the outcome of the sum of a number of different parts which together define a thermodynamic state or equilibrium. They tell us what is allowed and what is unlikely or even forbidden. They also inform on the likely role of the metal in the accepting molecule. How the metal conducts the orchestra!

We are quite frankly incapable of carrying out such complex calculations and we rely on the Eli’s of this world and a rather incomplete scientific literature to confirm the allowed reactions. Once we are satisfied that such are genuine they become assumptions and we then look to model these assumptions in a way which might then allow us to predict if sufficient allowed reactions can occur within any particular timeframe to change biological reactivity into biological availability. The latter is what has driven biochemical evolution in the past and which continues to determine the role of rogue metals (aluminium) in biochemical evolution today, tomorrow and whenever it is that Eli does what she does next! Perhaps I will try and tempt her with some recent results!