What element could be used on a fictional metal-poor planet for biological oxygen exchange?

I'm working on a hard sf novel about humans being forced to survive on a metal-poor planet. They have to take dietary metal supplements at first but eventually a bio-engineer rigs the biochemical pathways from a native species to work in their offspring using bacterial and viral vectors. I'd like a non-metallic element to assist in oxygen gas exchange. An alternative is that they use iron but that it is recycled, somehow, within the body. So, for example, heavy blood loss would be a serious accident since the iron in the blood would be hard to replace. Any ideas would be appreciated.

is a duplicate

This question has been asked before and has already been answered. It should be marked as a duplicate.

Please enter the URL of the proposed duplicate in the details field below.

not constructive

This question cannot be answered in a way that is helpful to anyone. It's not possible to learn something from possible answers, except for the solution for the specific problem of the asker.

Communities

What element could be used on a fictional metal-poor planet for biological oxygen exchange?

0 comment threads

0 answers