Laccases are copper-containing oxidase

Oxidase

An oxidase is any enzyme that catalyzes an oxidation-reduction reaction involving molecular oxygen as the electron acceptor. In these reactions, oxygen is reduced to water or hydrogen peroxide ....

 enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

s that are found in many plants, fungi, and microorganisms. The copper is bound in several sites; Type 1, Type 2, and/or Type 3. The ensemble of types 2 and 3 copper is called a trinuclear cluster (see figure). Type 1 copper is available to action of solvents, such as water. It can be displaced by mercury, substituted by cobalt or removed via a copper complexone.