Crystallins are the predominant proteins of eye lens which prevent heat and oxidative-induced stress-induced aggregation other proteins. They may be classified into two superfamilies, α- βγ- crystallins. The crystallins long-lived structural refract light onto retina. microbial can not only bind to calcium ions, but even able coordinate ions such as Mg2+, Sr2+, Co2+, Mn2+, Ni2+, Zn2+ etc. Such ...

The presence of the copper ion at the active site of human wild type copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD) is essential to its ability to catalyze the disproportionation of superoxide into dioxygen and hydrogen peroxide. Wild type CuZnSOD and several of the mutants associated with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS) (Ala(4) --> Val, Gly(93) --> Ala, and Leu(38) --> Val) were expr...

The unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a valuable model for studying metal metabolism in a photosynthetic background. A search of the Chlamydomonas expressed sequence tag database led to the identification of several components that form a copper-dependent iron assimilation pathway related to the high-affinity iron uptake pathway defined originally for Saccharomyces cerevisiae....

Two genes recently identified in Arabidopsis thaliana may be involved in sequestering free copper ions in the cytoplasm and delivering copper to post-Golgi vesicles. The genes COPPER CHAPERONE and RESPONSIVE TO ANTAGONIST1 are homologous to copper-trafficking genes from yeast and humans. This plant copper-delivery pathway is required to create functional ethylene receptors. The pathway may also...

Stable-isotope studies in human infants and adults have shown that copper homeostasis occurs, but the contribution of the small intestine to this regulation is still not well understood. Copper first needs to be reduced to the cuprous form, most likely by Steap proteins on the apical membrane. Copper is subsequently absorbed by Ctr1 and then transferred in the enterocyte by the chaperone Atox1 ...

Two genes recently identified in Arabidopsis thaliana may be involved in sequestering free copper ions in the cytoplasm and delivering copper to post-Golgi vesicles. The genes, COPPER CHAPERONE and RESPONSIVE TO ANTAGONIST1 are homologous to copper-trafficking genes from yeast and humans. This plant copper-delivery pathway is required to create functional ethylene receptors. The pathway may als...

Protein framework alterations in heritable Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD) mutants cause misassembly and aggregation in cells affected by the motor neuron disease ALS. However, the mechanistic relationship between superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) mutations and human disease is controversial, with many hypotheses postulated for the propensity of specific SOD mutants to cause ALS. Here, we experim...

The histidine brace (His-brace) is a copper-binding motif that associated with both oxidative enzymes and proteinaceous copper chaperones. Here, we used biochemical structural methods to characterize mutants of His-brace-containing chaperone from Pseudomonas fluorescens (PfCopC). A total 15 amino acid variants in primary second sphere residues were produced characterised terms their redox prope...