Bromine Is an Essential Trace Element for Assembly of Collagen IV Scaffolds in Tissue Development and Architecture
Working with Billy Hudson's lab in the department of medicine, the Page-McCaw lab determined that the element bromine is required for crosslinking basement membrane, the extracellular matrix underlying all epithelial tissues. Without bromine, the basement membrane is weakened and fruitflies cannot survive. As this basement-membrane crosslink is highly conserved throughout the animal kingdom, this study establishes bromine as the 28th essential element.
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