The human innate immune system launches a metal-withholding response when confronted with microbial invaders. Calprotectin (S100A8/S100A9 oligomer) is an abundant metal-sequestering human protein that is released from neutrophils at infection sites and contributes to this metal-withholding response. Calprotectin presents a fascinating system in biological coordination chemistry because each S100A8/S100A9 heterodimer harbors six independent sites for chelating metal ions. One of these sites is a biologically unprecedented hexahistidine site. We present a walk along the first-row of the Periodic Table, summarizing our past five years of research elucidating the remarkable coordination chemistry of this protein, and focused primarily on how CP coordinates divalent first-row transition metals at the hexahistidine site.

Metals and immunity: Explorations of a biological hexahistidine site

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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