Human Metabolome Database: Nickel
Description
Nickel is a metallic chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Ni and atomic number 28. Nickel is a hard, ductile, silvery white transition metal. Nickel plays numerous roles in biology. In fact, the first protein ever crystallized, urease contains nickel, which assists in the hydrolysis of urea. The NiFe-hydrogenases contain nickel in addition to iron-sulfur clusters. Such [NiFe]-hydrogenases characteristically oxidise H2. A nickel-tetrapyrrole coenzyme, F430, is present in the methyl coenzyme M reductase which powers methanogenic archaea.
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