Abstract 1028 Transition metal signaling from metalloallostery to metalloplasia: bioinorganic chemistry beyond active sites

Metals are key nutrients required across all kingdoms of life, where they are traditionally studied as cofactors in the active sites of proteins. Our laboratory has pioneered a new concept for metals in biology termed transition metal signaling, where these nutrients operate by metalloallostery, binding to exosites beyond protein active sites to regulate their activity by positive or negative allostery. Transition metal signaling pathways mediated by diverse metalloallosteric interactions give rise to metal-mediated cell growth and proliferation processes that we define as metalloplasias, with copper-dependent cuproplasia as a first representative example.