In Wilson’s disease there is an accumulation of copper in the tissue which is unable to be cleared and leads to the manifestation of symptoms such as neurological and liver disease.(Buiakova et al., 1999) Lyme disease is an example of how the metalloproteins in an organism can incorporate a different metal leading to an altered state. In some cases the lyme disease causing bacteria contains metalloproteins that incorporate manganese instead of iron to avoid being eliminated by the host it has infected.(Aguirre et al., 2013) Another example of altered metalloprotein states is seen with the copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD). This protein in its normal state contains one molecule of both copper and zinc, in this state the protein is fully metallated. Yet this metalloprotein has the capability to exist in many states, such as only containing one metal or two of the same metals bound or even no metals bound at all. And when in these states the protein can be misfolded which my result in an altered function and in some cases be more prone to aggregation.When the protein is in its fully metallated state it is able to scavenge superoxide radicals where as when there is no copper bound …show more content…
And during sample storage, multiple aliquots of samples should be created in the desired volume/concentration to avoid multiple freeze thaw cycles as this can impact on the proteins and may even cause the protein to misfold or aggregate. Any problems that arise in this initial sample collection or storage can have detrimental effects on the outcomes achieved, as if a protein loses its metal during these steps it will be not identified as a metalloprotein. Meaning that a novel metalloprotein could be overlooked and misidentified, adding to the pool of incorrectly identified