Copper proteins
Copper proteins or cupro proteins are proteins that contain one or more copper ions as a prosthetic group . They have similar functions to iron- containing proteins and serve, for example, as oxygen transporters ( hemocyanin , analogous to hemeerythrin ) and oxidoreductases ( laccase , ceruloplasmin and cytochrome c oxidase ). Many copper proteins are blue in color.
The copper proteins include plastocyanin , which can be produced by some cyanobacteria and plants . The “blue blood” of snails, squids, spiders, scorpions and others also contains oxygen-transporting copper proteins, the color of which is due to haemocyanins. These are up to several hundred times larger than the small, blue copper proteins. However, they differ from those of molluscs and arthropods by around 90 percent. Only a small section of 42 amino acids is conserved, which points to a common origin of the small, blue copper proteins, as these are found in all three organism kingdoms - in archaea as well as in bacteria and eukaryotes.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Kaim, Brigitte Schwederski: Bioinorganische Chemie: On the function of chemical elements in life processes. 4th edition, Vieweg + Teubner Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-519-33505-0 , pp. 193-221.
- ↑ R. Wandtner: Structure and Bonding , vol 91, p 91 / FAZ of 11 November 1998..