Icon representing a puzzle

2737: Revisiting Puzzle 77: Copper Chaperone

Open for the next 4 days

Novice Overall Prediction

Summary

Created
March 11, 2026
Expires
Max points
100
Description

This is a throwback puzzle to the early days of Foldit. This protein binds copper ions so that they may be transported safely to the cell compartments and enzymes that require them. The protein is modeled here in the reduced state, so no disulfides are expected to form. We are revisiting old Foldit puzzles so we can see how useful the recent additions to the game have been.

Sequence
AQEFSVKGMSCNHCVARIEEAVGRISGVKKVKVQLKKEKAVVKFDEANVQATEICQAINELGYQAEVI

Top groups

  1. Avatar for Go Science
    1. Go Science
    10,303
  2. Avatar for L'Alliance Francophone 2. L'Alliance Francophone 10,079
  3. Avatar for Anthropic Dreams 3. Anthropic Dreams 9,988
  4. Avatar for Void Crushers 4. Void Crushers 9,816
  5. Avatar for FamilyBarmettler 5. FamilyBarmettler 9,567
  6. Avatar for VeFold 6. VeFold 9,523
  7. Avatar for Australia 7. Australia 9,519
  8. Avatar for Contenders 8. Contenders 6,482
  1. Avatar for nicobul 21. nicobul Lv 1 9,193
  2. Avatar for Apothecary1815 22. Apothecary1815 Lv 1 9,156
  3. Avatar for p.naka 23. p.naka Lv 1 8,911
  4. Avatar for Mohoernchen 24. Mohoernchen Lv 1 8,857
  5. Avatar for rinze 25. rinze Lv 1 8,791
  6. Avatar for Flatfish4u 26. Flatfish4u Lv 1 8,713
  7. Avatar for heather-1 27. heather-1 Lv 1 8,585
  8. Avatar for Galaxie 28. Galaxie Lv 1 6,482
  9. Avatar for Bletchley Park 29. Bletchley Park Lv 1 6,482

Comments

Serca Lv 1

This protein functions as a vital intracellular copper chaperone, acting as a molecular escort that safely transports toxic, highly reactive copper ions through the cell. Structurally, this small protein folds into an "open beta-sandwich" architecture, but its true functional power lies in a highly conserved Cys-X-X-Cys motif located on a flexible loop. Within this motif, two cysteine residues act like chemical "handcuffs," using their sulfur atoms to tightly but reversibly bind a single copper ion, neutralizing its cellular threat before delivering the payload precisely to its target enzyme.