ABSTRACT

Copper is a transitional element, found between nickel and zinc on the periodic table of elements. This metal’s atomic number is 29 and has an atomic weight of 63.5 (Wulfsberg 2000). Copper concentrations range from 3 to 110 ppm in soils and have an average abundance of 55 ppm in the Earth’s crust (Linder and Goode 1991, Misra 2000). This is quite rare when compared to the elements aluminum (81,300 ppm), iron (50,000 ppm), and manganese (950 ppm). Other elements worth noting due to possible in«uence on copper transport are zinc, cobalt, lead, silver, and gold. Zinc abundance is similar to copper with amounts in soils ranging from 16 to 95 ppm and

CONTENTS

Copper in Biology ............................................................................................... 263 Forms and Availability of Copper ............................................................... 263 Copper and Nutrition ....................................................................................264 Requirements for Metabolism ...................................................................... 265

Biochemistry of Copper Transport ................................................................... 268 Types of Copper Transport Proteins ............................................................ 268 Metal-Related Interactions and Speci’city ................................................. 271

Copper Transport Proteins across Heterotrophic Models ............................. 272 Bacterial Copper Transport Mechanisms .................................................... 272 Eukaryotic Model for Copper Regulation: Saccharomyces Cerevisae.......... 281

Copper Transport Proteins across Autotrophic Models ................................283 Copper Transport in Photosynthetic Cyanobacteria and Algae ..............283 Copper Homeostasis in Higher Plants Using Arabidopsis as a Model ...............................................................................284