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Laccases are members of a large family of multicopper oxidases that catalyze the oxidation of a wide range of organic and inorganic substrates accompanied by the reduction of dioxygen to water. A new laccase was isolated from the basidiomycete Coriolopsis caperata strain 0677 and its amino-acid sequence was determined. According to its physicochemical properties and spectroscopic features, the laccase from C. caperata is a high redox-potential blue laccase. Attempts to crystallize the native enzyme were unsuccessful. The copper type 2-depleted (T2D) laccase was prepared and crystallized. The structure of T2D laccase from C. caperata was solved at 1.6 Å resolution, and attempts to reconstruct the T2 copper centre were performed using Cu+ and Cu2+ ions. The structure of T2D+Cu+ laccase was solved at 1.89 Å resolution. It was shown that the T2D+Cu+ laccase structure contained four copper ions in the active site. Reconstruction could not be achieved when the T2D laccase crystals were treated with CuSO4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]