Introduction: Biochemistry, Nutrition and Development

Abstract

Although the basic outlines of sulfur amino acid metabolism in mammals have been known for some years, there is a surprising ignorance of many details of enzymology. This ignorance extends into the biochemistry of taurine, where, despite numerous investigations, the regulatory mechanisms which control the proportion of sulfur flowing through taurine versus the proportion flowing through sulfate are not understood. This relative ignorance is a consequence of the numerous oxidation states which can be assumed by sulfur, and the ready oxidizability of sulfur at states between −2 and +4 or +6. Sulfur in such states tends to be chemically and biochemically reactive, and to have available both monomeric and dimeric pathways available for further reaction. These factors and others account for the complex biochemistry of sulfur (1).