The histone H3-H4 tetramer is a copper reductase enzyme.

Abstract

Eukaryotic histone H3-H4 tetramers contain a putative copper (Cu²⁺) binding site at the H3-H3' dimerization interface with unknown function. The coincident emergence of eukaryotes with global oxygenation, which challenged cellular copper utilization, raised the possibility that histones may function in cellular copper homeostasis. We report that the recombinant <i>Xenopus laevis</i> H3-H4 tetramer is an oxidoreductase enzyme that binds Cu²⁺ and catalyzes its reduction to Cu¹⁺ in vitro. Loss- and gain-of-function mutations of the putative active site residues correspondingly altered copper binding and the enzymatic activity, as well as intracellular Cu¹⁺ abundance and copper-dependent mitochondrial respiration and Sod1 function in the yeast <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i> The histone H3-H4 tetramer, therefore, has a role other than chromatin compaction or epigenetic regulation and generates biousable Cu¹⁺ ions in eukaryotes.