Copper metallothionein, a copper-binding protein from Neurospora crassa

Copper is an essential constituent of many proteins which participate in biologically important reactions 1 . In contrast to iron, where different metal storage and transport proteins have been extensively characterised, the existence of copper proteins serving such functions is still a matter of co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1980-03, Vol.284 (5754), p.368-370
Main Author: Lerch, K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino Acid Sequence
Amino Acids - analysis
Copper - metabolism
Copper - pharmacology
fungi
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
Metalloproteins - metabolism
Metallothionein - metabolism
multidisciplinary
Neurospora - metabolism
Neurospora crassa - growth & development
Neurospora crassa - metabolism
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:Copper is an essential constituent of many proteins which participate in biologically important reactions 1 . In contrast to iron, where different metal storage and transport proteins have been extensively characterised, the existence of copper proteins serving such functions is still a matter of controversy 2–8 . Studies on the biosynthesis of tyrosinase from Neurospora crassa with respect to the copper status of this fungus have shown that this organism accumulates copper with the concomitant synthesis of a small molecular weight copper-binding protein. This protein is now shown to have a striking sequence homology to the zinc-and cadmium-containing metallothioneins from vertebrates 9 . Growth experiments suggest that this molecule fulfills several important physiological functions in this organism such as copper storage, copper detoxification and provision of copper for tyrosinase.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/284368a0