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Zinc fingers help read DNA sequences.. Zinc is an essential trace element for humans [1] [2] [3] and other animals, [4] for plants [5] and for microorganisms. [6] Zinc is required for the function of over 300 enzymes and 1000 transcription factors, [3] and is stored and transferred in metallothioneins.
Zinc is added to the soil primarily through the weathering of rocks, but humans have added zinc through fossil fuel combustion, mine waste, phosphate fertilizers, pesticide (zinc phosphide), limestone, manure, sewage sludge, and particles from galvanized surfaces. Excess zinc is toxic to plants, although zinc toxicity is far less widespread. [12]
In prokaryotes, zinc can function as an antimicrobial, zinc oxide nano-particles can function as an antibacterial or antibiotic. Zinc homeostasis is highly controlled to allow for its benefits without risk of death via its high toxicity. [8] Because of zinc's antibiotic nature, it is often used in many drugs against bacterial infections in humans.
Zinc is mined as a mineral resource used by humans at a rate of 9800 Gg/yr [1] for use in metal alloys including brass and nickel silver, for galvanizing steel, and in zinc compounds such as zinc oxide. Half of zinc waste from industrial use is from tailings and slag; the rest comes from the oxidation of zinc metals and landfill waste ...
The earliest gold artifacts were discovered at the site of Wadi Qana in the Levant. [13] Silver is estimated to have been discovered in Asia Minor shortly after copper and gold. [14] There is evidence that iron was known from before 5000 BC. [15] The oldest known iron objects used by humans are some beads of meteoric iron, made in Egypt in ...
Perey discovered it as a decay product of 227 Ac. [177] Francium was the last element to be discovered in nature, rather than synthesized in the lab, although four of the "synthetic" elements that were discovered later (plutonium, neptunium, astatine, and promethium) were eventually found in trace amounts in nature as well. [178]
Even though zinc-binding metalloproteinases have been found to aid processes such as protein turnover and embryogenesis, it is still unclear as to the role they play in plants. To try to better understand MMPs’ role in plant tissue, the SMEP1 is cloned and analyzed using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the rapid amplification of cDNA ...
Naturally occurring zinc (30 Zn) is composed of the 5 stable isotopes 64 Zn, 66 Zn, 67 Zn, 68 Zn, and 70 Zn with 64 Zn being the most abundant (48.6% natural abundance).Twenty-eight radioisotopes have been characterised with the most stable being 65 Zn with a half-life of 244.26 days, and then 72 Zn with a half-life of 46.5 hours.