Cytochrome c oxidase

The enzyme cytochrome c oxidase, or Complex IV (EC1.9.3.1), is a large transmembrane protein complex found in bacteria and the mitochondrion of eukaryotes.

It is the last enzyme in the respiratory electron transport chain of mitochondria or bacteria located in the mitochondrial or bacterial membrane. It receives an electron from each of four cytochrome c molecules, and transfers them to one oxygen molecule, converting molecular oxygen to two molecules of water. In the process, it binds four protons from the inner aqueous phase to make water, and in addition translocates four protons across the membrane, helping to establish a transmembrane difference of proton electrochemical potential that the ATP synthase then uses to synthesize ATP.