Copper in oxidases

Copper, Cu2+ d9) 4, square planar O-Carboxylate, V-i midazole Type II copper in oxidases... 

Copper has an essential role in a number of enzymes, notably those involved in the catalysis of electron transfer and in the transport of dioxygen and the catalysis of its reactions. The latter topic is discussed in Section 62.1.12. Hemocyanin, the copper-containing dioxygen carrier, is considered in Section 62.1.12.3.8, while the important role of copper in oxidases is exemplified in cytochrome oxidase, the terminal member of the mitochondrial electron-transfer chain (62.1.12.4), the multicopper blue oxidases such as laccase, ascorbate oxidase and ceruloplasmin (62.1.12.6) and the non-blue oxidases (62.12.7). Copper is also involved in the Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutases (62.1.12.8.1) and a number of hydroxylases, such as tyrosinase (62.1.12.11.2) and dopamine-jS-hydroxylase (62.1.12.11.3). Tyrosinase and hemocyanin have similar binuclear copper centres. 

Enzymes often need for their activity the presence of a non-protein portion, which may be closely combined with the protein, in which case it is called a prosthetic group, or more loosely associated, in which case it is a coenzyme. Certain metals may be combined with the enzyme such as copper in ascorbic oxidase and selenium in glutathione peroxidase. Often the presence of other metals in solution, such as magnesium, are necessary for the action of particular enzymes. 

Divalent Co substitution in copper amine oxidase revealed 19% of the native specific activity (for MeNH2) and 75% of the native reactivity toward phenylhydrazine. The major cause of this was a 68-fold increase in Km for 02. These investigations support the idea that electrons flow directly to bound 02 without the need for a prior metal reduction and that the Cu does not redox cycle but simply provides electrostatic stabilization during reduction of 02 to 02-. 1211... 

To provide a model for nitrite reductases72 Karlin and co-workers characterized a nitrite-bound complex (226) (r = 0.05)214 In an endeavor to model nitrite reductase activity, Tanaka and co-workers prepared a few mononuclear complexes (227) (r = 0.74)215 (228) (r = 0.82),216 (229) (r = 0.97),217 (230) (r = 0.16),217 (231) (r = 0.07),217 and (232) (r = 0.43 and r = 0.53)217 and studied the electrochemical reduction of N02A As a part of their activity on modeling heme-copper terminal oxidases, Holm and co-workers prepared complex (233) (r = 0.96).218 Using a sterically hindered tris(pyridylmethyl)amine, Canary et al. prepared a complex (234) (r=1.00), studied its redox behavior, and discussed various factors that may contribute to the difference (higher potential for the new complex) in the redox potential of a Cu Cu1 couple between substituted and unsubstituted ligands.2 9... 

Copper (type III) in oxidases Open-sided pair of tetrahedra... 

Sands, R.H. and Beinert, H. 1959. On the function of copper in cytochrome oxidase. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 1 175-178. 

Adults require 1-2 mg of copper per day, and eliminate excess copper in bile and feces. Most plasma copper is present in ceruloplasmin. In Wilson s disease, the diminished availability of ceruloplasmin interferes with the function of enzymes that rely on ceruloplasmin as a copper donor (e.g. cytochrome oxidase, tyrosinase and superoxide dismutase). In addition, loss of copper-binding capacity in the serum leads to copper deposition in liver, brain and other organs, resulting in tissue damage. The mechanisms of toxicity are not fully understood, but may involve the formation of hydroxyl radicals via the Fenton reaction, which, in turn initiates a cascade of cellular cytotoxic events, including mitochondrial dysfunction, lipid peroxidation, disruption of calcium ion homeostasis, and cell death. 

We have already discussed the terminal oxidase of the respiratory chain, CcOx, in the previous chapter. Here we focus on the role of copper in this key metabolic enzyme. 

Laurenzi M, Tipping AJ, Marcus SE, Knox JP, Federico R, Angelini R, McPherson MJ (2001) Analysis of the distribution of copper amine oxidase in cell walls of legume seedlings. Planta 214 37 4-5... 

Rea G, Metoui O, Infantino A, Federico R, Angelini R (2002) Copper amine oxidase expression in defense responses to wounding and Ascochyta rabiei invasion. Plant Physiol 128 865-875 Roeder V, Collen J, Rousvoal S, Corre E, Leblanc C, Boyen C (2005) Identification of stress gene transcripts in Laminaria digitata (Phaeophyceae) protoplast cultures by Expressed Sequence Tag analysis. J Phycol 41 1227-1235... 

Type III copper is characterized by antiferromagnetic coupling of a pair of copper atoms and strong absorbance at 330 nm. A single type III pair is found in hemocyanin, in which it is involved in O2 transport, and in tyrosinase, in which an oxygen is inserted into substrate. A pair of copper atoms is also found in the multi-copper ascorbate oxidase, but it is coupled to the type II copper in a trinuclear arrangement. 

There are a number of excellent sources of information on copper proteins notable among them is the three-volume series Copper Proteins and Copper Enzymes (Lontie, 1984). A review of the state of structural knowledge in 1985 (Adman, 1985) included only the small blue copper proteins. A brief review of extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) work on some of these proteins appeared in 1987 (Hasnain and Garner, 1987). A number of new structures have been solved by X-ray diffraction, and the structures of azurin and plastocyanin have been extended to higher resolution. The new structures include two additional type I proteins (pseudoazurin and cucumber basic blue protein), the type III copper protein hemocyanin, and the multi-copper blue oxidase ascorbate oxidase. Results are now available on a copper-containing nitrite reductase and galactose oxidase. 

The location of the copper with respect to the Greek key fold is interesting when compared to that of the cupredoxins. While the copper in the cupredoxins lies in the interior of the /8 barrel bound by three interior-facing residues of the carboxy-terminal loop in the )8 barrel, and by a histidine in an adjacent strand, the copper in SOD lies on the outside of its jS barrel, bound by one residue from the carhoxy-terminal loop and three from the adjacent strand (cf. Figs. 2c-5c with Fig. 8c.) A structural comparison of plastocyanin and SOD, coupled with sequence alignment of plastocyanin and ceruloplasmin (Ryden, 1988), showed that three of the SOD ligands correspond to putative copper ligands in ceruloplasmin. Why this is so will become more evident after the description of the ascorbate oxidase structure and its relationship to ceruloplasmin. 

Extensive analysis of the EPR and redox behavior of this unusual copper protein led to the hypothesis that the protein might contain a Cu(A) site similar to that in cytochrome oxidase (Riester et ai, 1989) and that the unusual seven-line EPR is due to the Cu(A)-type site. An alternative interpretation of this EPR is based on electron spin-echo spectroscopy as well, and that is that the seven-line EPR is due to a half-met Cu—Cu pair and to unusual type I sites (Jin et ai, 1989). Three sets of spin-echo peaks can be attributed to nitrogens on imidazole ligands to a CuA-type site and to another imidazole on the half-met site. The electron spin-echo spectra of cytochrome oxidase are similar, although there is not enough copper in cytochrome oxidase for a half-met site. Conceivably, the property of delocalization of the paramagnetic electron could be effected by the proposed bridging between Cub and heme as (nomenclature summarized by Capaldi, 1990), which are proposed to be 3-4 A apart. 

A new putative member of the blue multi-copper oxidases has been isolated using the Escherichia coli yacK gene. Six copper ions per polypeptide chain were determined and assigned to two type 1 copper centers and further one type 2 and one type 3 copper. Phenoloxidase and ferroxidase properties were ascertained98 A new copper containing nitrite reductase was purified from a halophilic archaeon and the ligands to type 1 and type 2 coppers in the sequence were... 

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