Copper plastocyanin structure

Crystallographic analysis has provided us with a detailed structure of hCp on the other hand, essentially all of the structure-function analyses have been done on FetSp. Also, except for the copper site structural homology, the two proteins are quite different. hCp is composed of six plastocyanin-like domains (plastocyanin is a type 1 copper-containing protein) that are arranged in a trigonal array (Zaitseva et al., 1996). One result of this domain replication is a conformational fold that produces a distinct, negatively charged patch on the protein surface adjacent to the catalytically active type 1 Cu(II). This copper atom is in domain 6. (Domains 2 and 4 contain type 1-like copper sites that do not participate in the ferroxidase reaction.) Lindley et al. (1997) have proposed that this... 

Structure and electron transfer reactivity of the blue copper protein, plastocyanin. A. G. Sykes, Chem. Soc. Rev., 1985,14, 283 (117). 

In the blue, Type I copper proteins plastocyanin and azurin, the active-site structure comprises the trigonal array [CuN2S] of two histidine ligands and one cysteine ligand about the copper,... 

Copper proteins present interesting problems of structure for the copper(I) oxidation state. They are difficult to probe in detail, and what we do know of them suggests they are rarely regular or predictable.58 In plastocyanin the copper(I) coordination sphere is made up of three strongly... 

The electrons subsequently pass to plastocyanin (PC), which is a copper-containing protein. The Cu-containing redox center of this 10.5 kD monomer cycles between Cu(I) and Cu(II) oxidation states. The structure of PC shows that... 

This discussion of copper-containing enzymes has focused on structure and function information for Type I blue copper proteins azurin and plastocyanin, Type III hemocyanin, and Type II superoxide dismutase s structure and mechanism of activity. Information on spectral properties for some metalloproteins and their model compounds has been included in Tables 5.2, 5.3, and 5.7. One model system for Type I copper proteins39 and one for Type II centers40 have been discussed. Many others can be found in the literature. A more complete discussion, including mechanistic detail, about hemocyanin and tyrosinase model systems has been included. Models for the blue copper oxidases laccase and ascorbate oxidases have not been discussed. Students are referred to the references listed in the reference section for discussion of some other model systems. Many more are to be found in literature searches.50... 

More subtle factors that might affect k will be the sites structures, their relative orientation and the nature of the intervening medium. That these are important is obvious if one examines the data for the two copper proteins plastocyanin and azurin. Despite very similar separation of the redox sites and the driving force (Table 5.12), the electron transfer rate constant within plastocyanin is very much the lesser (it may be zero). See Prob. 16. In striking contrast, small oxidants are able to attach to surface patches on plastocyanin which are more favorably disposed with respect to electron transfer to and from the Cu, which is about 14 A distant. It can be assessed that internal electron transfer rate constants are =30s for Co(phen)3+, >5 x 10 s for Ru(NH3)jimid and 3.0 x 10 s for Ru(bpy)3 , Refs. 119 and 129. In the last case the excited state Ru(bpy)3 is believed to bind about 10-12 A from the Cu center. Electron transfer occurs both from this remote site as well as by attack of Ru(bpy)j+ adjacent to the Cu site. At high protein concentration, electron transfer occurs solely through the remote pathway. 

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. 

Unfortunately, bond lengths have not been reported for the copper center of Cbp. Its spectrum (like that of plastocyanin) is much more like that of the A. faecalis pseudoazurin than azurin. Since little variability of the Cu-Sy bond has been seen in the three structures described above, and since the major difference between pseudoazurin and plastocyanin (or azurin) is the length of the Cu-Met S8 bond, this would suggest that the Cu-Met bond is short in this protein, as well. Its EPR is also rhombic, again, like that of pseudoazurin. 

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. 

Blue copper proteins in their oxidized form contain a Cu2+ ion in the active site. The copper atom has a rather unusual tetra-hedral/trigonal pyramidal coordination formed by two histidine residues, a cysteine and a methionine residue. One of the models of plastocyanin used in our computational studies (160) is pictured in Fig. 7. Among the four proteins, the active sites differ in the distance of the sulfur atoms from the Cu center and the distortion from an approximately trigonal pyramidal to a more tetrahedral structure in the order azurin, plastocyanin, and NiR. This unusual geometrical arrangement of the active site leads to it having a number of novel electronic properties (26). 

Having elucidated, in combination with X-ray structural data, the characteristics of the copper site coordination in blue proteins in extenso, the challenge for EPR spectroscopy (and other techniques) is now to find ways to model the electron transfer (ET) in a realistic fashion. At present EPR is, however, mostly used to ascertain that the coordination of copper in the experimental ET chain models employed is not disturbed prior to ET. Plastocyanin is the electron carrier in photosynthesis. Indications of structural origins of impaired ET in... 

At pH 7.8, the structure of reduced (Cu1) pfastocyanin has a structure very similar to that of Cu" ptastocyann (Fig. 19.15) except for small differences in bond lengths. At pH 3.8, the copper is IrigonaOy coordinated wah the fourth interaction (Cu-imidazole) broken. Predict and discuss the redox activity of plastocyanin as a Fixiction of pH. 

---