Peroxide-copper binding

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. 

Some metal- (especially copper) complexes catalyse the dismutation of superoxide at rates that compare favourably with catalysis by superoxide dismutase. One could therefore argue that the presence of such complexes in vivo might be beneficial. There are, however, additional considerations (1) such metal complexes may also reduce hydrogen peroxide, which could result in the formation of hydroxyl radicals, and (2) it is extremely likely that the metal will be displaced from its ligands (even when those ligands are present in excess), and becomes bound to a biomolecule, thereby becoming less active as a superoxide dismutase mimic. As an example, copper binds well to DNA and catalyses the formation of hydroxyl radicals in the presence of hydrogen peroxide and ascorbate [30],... 

The active site of type 3 copper proteins consists of two copper atoms. Each of them is bound by three histidines provided by an antiparallel alpha-helix pair (Figure 1). Cu-A denotes the copper-binding site closer to the N-terminns, whereas Cu-B is the copper-binding site closer to the C-terminns. According to crystal structures of arthropod and mollnsc hemocyanins, the coppers bind a dioxygen molecnle in the same way as a peroxide in side-on... 

It has been concluded from a study of the optical and e.p.r. spectra of Co —Cu bovine superoxide dismutase, in which zinc has been replaced by cobalt, that the cobalt site reactivity should be described in terms of reaction of the Co-imidazolate-Cu system as a whole the crystal structure reported last year indicated that the metals were linked by a common histidine residue. There is an exchange interaction between the cobalt and copper however, this is abolished when the linking imidazole is protonated. Further evidence for the close proximity and interactive dependence of the zinc and copper binding sites was obtained from a study of the 4 Cu protein a two-fold enhancement of the activity of 2 Cu dismutase was observed upon occupation of the zinc sites by the Cu ". On the basis of C1 n.m.r. studies, Fee and Ward have suggested that one co-ordination position of Cu in superoxide dismutase is normally occupied by water they further suggest that superoxide can displace the solvent to form a cupric peroxide complex. 

Complexes of metal + ligand + protein or DNA can also catalyze the Diels Alder cycloaddition or oxidations with hydrogen peroxide. Copper complexes bound to DNA catalyzed the Diels-Alder cycloaddition with up to 99% ee [15, 16], Cu(phthalocyanine) complexed to serum albumin also catalyzed the enantioselective (98% ee) Diels-Alder reaction, but only with very high catalyst loading (10 mol%) and only with pyridine-bearing dienophiles (presumably to complex the copper) [17]. Achiral Cr(III) complexes or Mn(Schiff-base) complexes inserted into the active site of apomyoglobin variants catalyzed the sulfoxidation of thio-anisole with up to 13 and 51% ee, respectively [18, 19]. A copper phenanthroline complex attached to the adipocyte lipid-binding protein catalyzed the enantioselective hydrolysis of esters and amides [20]. 

The veiy different reactivities of hemocyanin and tyrosinase toward oxidizable substrates se n to be due to the presence of a substrate binding site in the latter. It appears, therefore, that the oxygenation of the phenol substrate occurs either by reaction of copper-bound pooxide or hydrc ieroxide with the ortho position of the copper-bound phenol (16) or that the 0-0 bond of the peroxide ligand is cleaved... 

The hemocyanlns which cooperatively bind dioxygen are found in two invertebrate phyla arthropod and mollusc. The mollusc hemocyanlns additionally exhibit catalase activity. Tyrosinase, which also reversibly binds dioxygen and dlsmutates peroxide, is a monooxygenase, using the dloxygen to hydroxylate monophenols to ortho-diphenols and to further oxidize this product to the quinone. Finally, the multicopper oxidases (laccase, ceruloplasmin and ascorbate oxidase) also contain coupled binuclear copper sites in combination with other copper centers and these catalyze the four electron reduction of dloxygen to water. 

The enzyme copper, zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu,Zn-SOD, EC 1.15.1.1) catalyzes the disproportionation of superoxide anion to dioxygen and hydrogen peroxide (equations 1 and 2). Crystallographic data can be found in References 41-46. This antioxidant enzyme is present in the cytosol and mitochondrial intermembrane space of eukaryotic cells and in the periplasmic space of bacterial cells as a homodimer of 32 kDa. Each monomer binds one copper and one zinc ion. The reaction mechanism involves the... 

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