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

Eukaryotic histone H3-H4 tetramers contain a putative copper (Cu) 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 H3-H4 tetramer is an oxidoreductase enzyme that binds Cu and catalyzes its reduction to Cu 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 Cu abundance and copper-dependent mitochondrial respiration and Sod1 function in the yeast The histone H3-H4 tetramer, therefore, has a role other than chromatin compaction or epigenetic regulation and generates biousable Cu ions in eukaryotes.