“…Cobalt(II) carbonic anhydrase has 50% of the carbon dioxide hydration activity of the native zinc enzyme. In contrast, the activities of the cupric, ferrous, nickel(II) and manganese(II) derivatives are negligible (Coleman, 1967;Lindskog & Nyman, 1964;Thorslund & Lindskog, 1967), despite the similarity of these metal ions to zinc in terms of charge, size and pK. The three-dimensional structure of human carbonic anhydrase II is known at high resolution (Liljas, Kannan, Bergst6n, Waara, Fridborg, Strandberg, Carlbom, JS_rup, l_,6vgren & Petef, 1972;H~kansson, Carlsson, Svensson & Liljas, 1992).…”