Abstract

The cell biology of metals is relatively new to the field of lanthanides; their particular fuse into chemicals was just exhibited in 2011, with the confinement of a bacterial lanthanide-and pyrroloquinoline quinone-subordinate methanol dehydrogenase. Numerous research efforts have since been focused on elucidating the molecular details involved in selectively recognizing and utilizing these metals, as well as the widespread use of lanthanide in environmentally important bacteria. The biology’s use of lanthanides, as well as the lanthano-enzymes and -proteins (the lanthanome) that are currently known, are the subject of this review, along with the specific chemical challenges and benefits that come with it. In addition, we discuss the emerging knowledge of the coordination chemistry and biology of the pathways for lanthanide acquisition, trafficking, and regulation. These studies have shown that biological pathways for the use of other metals share many similarities. Last but not least, we talk about some of the many unanswered questions in this developing field and the potential applications they could have.