Minerals For Life
Roksana Khalid
9781773611709
212 pages
Arcler Education Inc
Overview
Plants and animals have definite requirements of chemical nutrients in mineral form, often supplied to animals by the plants they eat, and to plants through mineral elements of rocks assimilated after their conversion from soil. Simple inorganic components of the soil and atmosphere accumulate and are converted in plants into complex organic substances. This might be elaborated further by animals through removal and selection of elementary constituents; with incorporation into bones, blood, flesh, and different structural materials. There is much alteration among the mineral elementary composition of plants, animals, and soil and about 3800 minerals are known. “Mineralogy” is a branch of science that deals with acknowledgement and discovery of minerals regularly. The International Mineralogical Association, abbreviated IMA, is an international group that works on recognition of new minerals and naming them.Some mineral nutrients are essential, meaning they are not present in organisms and must be ingested from the environment, while some are non-essential that are already present in organisms. The other minerals are present in relatively less amounts and are known as “trace elements”. Trace elements include potassium, magnesium, sodium, chlorine, and sulfur. These 11 minerals are important for human life. The mechanism of producing minerals by living organisms for the stiffening or hardening of their present tissue is called bio-mineralization. Across the 3 domains of life (bacteria, archaea, and eukaryote), minerals are involved in different processes. Examples of this include gold, copper, and iron deposits in bacteria, silicates found in algae and diatoms, and carbonates in vertebrates. These minerals are actually used to make different structures, like seashells, and bones in mammals and birds. Minerals should be present in adequate amounts in an organism. If the amount of minerals is higher or lower than the normal physiological levels, it can lead to disease. Physiology of minerals deals with the normal functioning of minerals. However, pathology of minerals deals with deviation from normal function of minerals. This book “Minerals for Life” provides comprehensive information regarding minerals necessary for life.
Author Bio
Roksana obtained her MSc from McMaster University in 2016. Her interests span from microbiology to neuroscience and she is currently working on the gut-brain axis as a visiting researcher at the Karolinska Institutet.
