Menkes disease Menkes disease.
Copper has vital roles in enzymes as prosthetic groups .
Proteins are made up of folded amino acids linked together into a polypeptide, but proteins are not entirely always just protein. Often further non-amino acid groups are required for correct functioning. These groups are prosthetic groups, the prime example of a protsthetic group is Haemoglobin, which contains a globin polypeptide chain, and a haem prosthetic group, within the Haem group iron is bound. Copper is used in a variety of enzymes, such as Cytochrome c , Ceruloplasmin, and lysayl oxidase. Pathology Copper cannot be transported across the intestinal membrane, due to this faulty transporter, the Copper builds up inside the intestinal cells, and not distributed into the blood stream, and thus the rest of the body.