Sulfur

Sulfur is a naturally occurring element that is produced in large quantities in Texas, Louisiana, Canada, Europe and Asia. Sulfur is an essential component of all living cells. Sulfur has been known since ancient times.

Sulfur is an abundant, tasteless, odorless, multivalent non-metal. Sulfur, in its native form, is a yellow crystalline solid. In nature, it can be found as the pure element or as sulfide and sulfate minerals. It is an essential element for life and is found in two amino acids, cysteine and methionine. Sulfur is an essential component of all living cells. Sulfur may also serve as chemical food source for some primitive organisms: some forms of bacteria use hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the place of water as the electron donor in a primitive photosynthesis-like process. Sulfur is absorbed by plants via the roots from soil as the sulfate ion and reduced to sulfide before it is incorporated into cysteine and other organic sulfur compounds (sulfur assimilation). In plants and animals the amino acids cysteine and methionine contain sulfur, as do all polypeptides, proteins, and enzymes which contain these amino acids. Glutathione is an important sulfur-containing tripeptide which plays a role in cells as a source of chemical reduction potential in the cellThe basic structural and functional unit of all organisms; cells may exist as independent units of life or may form colonies or tissues as in higher plants and animals., through its sulfhydryl (-SH) moiety. Many important cellular enzymes use prosthetic groups ending with -SH moieties to handle reactions involving acyl-containing biochemicals: two common examples from basic metabolism are coenzyme A and alpha-lipoic acid. Disulfide bonds (S-S bonds) formed between cysteine residues in peptideA group of compounds made up of amino acid chains. An ingredient name containing the term peptide is usually synthetic. chains are very important in proteinA naturally occurring complex organic substance present in relatively high amounts in meats, fish, eggs, cheese, legumes. Made of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, and sometimes sulfur and phosphorus. assembly and structure. These strong covalent bonds between peptide chains give proteins a great deal of extra toughness and resiliency.