Copper protein

Copper proteins or Cuproproteine ​​are proteins which contain one or more of copper ions as a prosthetic group. They have similar features like Iron-containing proteins and serve as an oxygen transporter ( hemocyanin, analogous to Hemerythrin ) and oxidoreductases ( laccase, ceruloplasmin, and cytochrome c oxidase ). Copper many proteins have a blue color.

The copper proteins plastocyanin heard about, which can be formed by some cyanobacteria and plants. Even the "blue blood " of snails, squid, spiders, scorpions, among other things contains oxygen-carrying copper proteins whose color is due to hemocyanins. These are up to several hundred times larger than the small blue copper proteins. They differ from those of molluscs and arthropods, however, by about 90 percent. Only a small section of 42 amino acids is conserved, indicating a common origin of the small blue copper proteins, as they are found in all three kingdoms - in archaea, as in bacteria and eukaryotes.