Inorganic Components of Nature that Drive Metabolism

Metallocofactors are essential for all forms of life and can include iron, magnesium, manganese, cobalt, copper, zinc, nickel, and molybdenum. Much progress has been made towards understanding their roles in metabolism and exploring how such understanding might be advanced in support of human health and sustainability. Among the diverse range of metallocofactors found in biology are iron-sulfur (FeS) clusters that serve as prosthetic groups and facilitate unique chemistry in proteins, and FeS proteins that are represented in the most central metabolic pathways such as the citric acid cycle and the mitochondrial respiratory chain. FeS enzymes also play critical roles in the generation of radicals, as demonstrated by the very diverse family of SAM-dependent enzymes. Structurally fascinating metallocofactors featuring Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, and Cu are present in many bacteria and mediate remarkable metabolic redox chemistry with small molecule substrates including N₂, H₂O, H₂, CO₂, N₂O, and CH₄. Current interest in understanding how these metallocofactors function at the atomic level is enormous, especially in the context of sustainably feeding and fueling our planet; if we can understand how these cofactors work, there exists the possibility to design synthetic catalysts that function similarly.

The 2016 Gordon Research Conference on Metallocofactors will highlight the recent progress on the fundamental chemistry and mechanistic understanding of metallocofactors. This is a unique opportunity to bring young and distinguished researchers of various disciplines and backgrounds together in a manner that will be conducive to creative thinking and that has the potential to catalyze significant progress in metallocofactor research and understanding.