| Type: | Domain | Name: | Hemocyanin, N-terminal |
| Description: | Crustacean and cheliceratan hemocyanins (oxygen-transport proteins) and insect hexamerins (storage proteins) are homologous gene products, although the latter do not bind oxygen [].Haemocyanins are found in the haemolymph of many invertebrates. They are divided into 2 main groups, arthropodan and molluscan. These have structurally similar oxygen-binding centres, which are similar to the oxygen-binding centre of tyrosinases, but their quaternary structures are arranged differently. The arthropodan proteins exist as hexamers comprising 3 heterogeneous subunits (a, b and c) and possess 1 oxygen-binding centre per subunit; and the molluscan proteins exist as cylindrical oligomers of 10 to 20 subunits and possess 7 or 8 oxygen-binding centres per subunit []. Although the proteins have similar amino acid compositions, the only real similarity in their primary sequences is in the region corresponding to the second copper-binding domain, which also shows similarity to the copper-binding domain of tyrosinases. Hexamerins are proteins from the hemolymph of insects, which may serve as a store of amino acids for synthesis of adult proteins. They do not possess the copper-binding histidines present in hemocyanins []. This entry represents the N-terminal domain of hemocyanin and hexamerin proteins. | Short Name: | Hemocyanin_N |
