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Background: Cytochrome c oxidase (COX), the terminal component of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, catalyzes the electron transfer from reduced cytochrome c to oxygen. This component is a heteromeric complex consisting of 3 catalytic subunits encoded by mitochondrial genes and multiple structural subunits encoded by nuclear genes. The mitochondrially-encoded subunits function in electron transfer, and the nuclear-encoded subunits may function in the regulation and assembly of the complex. This nuclear gene encodes a protein similar to polypeptides 1 and 2 of subunit VIIa in the C-terminal region, and also highly similar to the mouse Sig81 protein sequence. This gene is expressed in all tissues, and upregulated in a breast cancer cell line after estrogen treatment. It is possible that this gene represents a regulatory subunit of COX and mediates the higher level of energy production in target