Copper is supplied to plastocyanin for photosynthesis and cytochrome c oxidase for respiration in the thylakoids of Synechocystis PCC 6803 by the membrane-bound P-type ATPases CtaA and PacS, and the metallochaperone Atx1. We have determined the Cu(I) affinities of all of the soluble proteins and domains in this pathway. The Cu(I) affinities of the trafficking proteins range from 5 × 10(16) to 5...

Low-dimensional copper interconnects are prone to void formation which takes place during the Cu-filling of narrow interconnect lines. These voids increase the electrical resistance of the interconnects which in turn results in an increase of the RC delay of the integrated circuit. Therefore, a fast and non-destructive method is needed, which will allow the detection of the voids in copper inte...

Copper plays a dual role as a nutrient and a toxin during bacterial infections. While uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) strains can use the copper-binding metallophore yersiniabactin (Ybt) to resist copper toxicity, Ybt also converts bioavailable copper to Cu(II)-Ybt in low-copper conditions. Although E. coli have long been considered to lack a copper import pathway, we observed Ybt-mediate...

The copper chaperone for the superoxide dismutase (CCS) gene is necessary for expression of an active, copper-bound form of superoxide dismutase (SOD1) in vivo in spite of the high affinity of SOD1 for copper (dissociation constant = 6 fM) and the high intracellular concentrations of both SOD1 (10 microM in yeast) and copper (70 microM in yeast). In vitro studies demonstrated that purified Cu(I...

The E. coli copper resistance protein PcoC enhances survival of a bacterium under conditions of extreme copper stress. This small protein has no cysteines, but does have an unusual methionine-rich sequence motif, suggesting that methionine ligation may be important in Cu binding. It is shown that PcoC binds both Cu(I) and Cu(II), in addition to binding Hg(II) and Ag(I). Previously crystallograp...

We report a method for producing thin, completely continuous and highly conductive copper films conformally inside very narrow holes with aspect ratios over 35:1 by atomic layer deposition ALD . Pure copper thin films were grown from a novel copper I amidinate precursor, copper I N,N -di-sec-butylacetamidinate, and molecular hydrogen gas as the reducing agent. This copper precursor is a liquid ...

Copper K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) has been used to investigate the structural details of the coordination environment of the copper sites in eight resting-state samples of beef heart cytochrome c oxidase prepared by different methods. The unusual position and structure of the resting-state copper edge spectrum can be adequately explained by the presence of sulfur-containing liga...

Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase (Cu,Zn-SOD) is a ubiquitous enzyme with an essential role in antioxidant defense. To better understand structural factors at the origin of the highly efficient superoxide dismutation mechanism, we analyzed the consequence of copper reduction on the electronic properties of the backbone and individual amino acids by using electrochemistry coupled to Fourier transform i...

Protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) is a 55 kDa multifunctional protein of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) involved in protein folding and isomerization. In addition to the chaperone and catalytic functions, PDI is a major calcium-binding protein of the ER. Although the active site of PDI has a similar motif CXXC to the Cu-binding motif in Wilson and Menkes proteins and in other copper chaperones,...

X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) measurements have been made on the K-edge of copper in some of its biologically important complexes involving benzimidazole (BzImH) and other inorganic anionic ligands (X), viz; [Cu(BzImH)4X2] and [Cu(BzIm)2],where X= Cl, Br, 1/2SO4, ClO4, NO3, and BzIm = benzimidazolato anion. Various X-ray absorption parameters in the near edge region, such as., ch...