Bioelementology

Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology 25S (2011) S3–S10

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Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.de/jtemb

FOURTH INTERNATIONAL FESTEM SYMPOSIUM

Bioelementology as an interdisciplinary integrative approach in life sciences: Terminology, classification, perspectives
Anatoly V. Skalny a,b,∗
ab

Institute of Bioelementology, Orenburg State University, Pobedy Avenue 13, Orenburg 460352, Russia Federal State Scientific Institution “Institute of Toxicology”, Federal Medico-Biological Agency of Russia, Bekhtereva str. 1, St. Petersburg 192019, Russia

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a b s t r a c t
The article presents the proposed concept of bioelements and the basic postulates ofbioelementology for assessing and discussing them in the scientific community. It is known that chemical elements exist in the organism not by themselves, but in certain species having close interaction with other components. Such units are proposed to be called bioelements: the elementary functioning units of living matter, which are biologically active complexes of chemical elements as atoms, ions ornanoparticles with organic compounds of exogenous or biogenous origin. The scientific discipline that studies bioelements, is proposed to be called bioelementology. This discipline could lay the foundation for the integration of bioorganic chemistry, bioinorganic chemistry, biophysics, molecular biology and other parts of life sciences. © 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Article history:Received 18 September 2010 Accepted 26 October 2010 Keywords: Bioelement Bioelementology Life science Integrative concept

Introduction “Despite evident expectations that a great deal of future outstanding discoveries will be made in the interdisciplinary areas of science, there are still ‘language’ barriers between the historically separate spheres of chemistry, biology, medicine and physics.Thus, it is one of the aims . . . to catalyse mutual ‘understanding’.” (Metal Ions in Life Sciences, 2010) At present, scientific and educational literature on traditional bioinorganic chemistry is rather good and extensively describes the elementary structure, physical properties and functions of isolated biological molecules such as proteins and enzymes, containing or interacting with one orseveral chemical elements [1–3]. However, there is much less information about the functional significance of chemical elements in living organisms in the ways in which these elements participate in the processes of life, i.e., in vivo, as well as about the meaning and significance of selection of the elements (and their isotopes), the processes of absorption (binding), transport and final localization incells, the regulation of these processes and control of their interactions in a complex set of the holistic system [4]. The biological role of chemical elements has experienced intensive studying in the second half of the twentieth century. There was expressed the essentiality of about 20 chemical elements to liv-

ing organisms, deepened the knowledge of toxic and carcinogenic properties of anumber of trace elements, created tens of thousands of drugs and dietary supplements containing trace elements, and food products fortified with them. But “the lack of multidisciplinary approach has been the Achilles heel of biological trace element research” [5]. However, we strongly believe that new developments in this direction are possible on the basis of synergetic achievements of bioorganicand bioinorganic chemistry, the disciplines which have played a distinct positive role in modern biological chemistry and, at the same time, to some extent a negative one – due to the artificial division of the unified science, investigating the biological role of all the chemical elements from organogens (O, H, N, C) to ultratrace elements, as well as proteomics, genomics, transcriptomics,...