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Martin J. Warren
University of Kent
Canterbury, Kent, UK

Alison G. Smith
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, UK

About this book

Excluding the biological polymers proteins, lipids and nucleic acids, modified tetrapyrroles are the biological molecules that have had the greatest impact on the evolution of life over the past 4 billion years. They are involved in a wide variety of fundamental processes that underpin central primary metabolism in all kingdoms of life, from photosynthesis to methanogenesis. Moreover, they bring color into the world and it is for this reason that these compounds have been appropriately dubbed the ‘pigments of life’. To understand how and why these molecules have been so universally integrated into the life processes one has to appreciate the chemical properties of the tetrapyrrole scaffold and, where appropriate, the chemical characteristics of the centrally chelated metal ion. This book addresses why these molecules are employed in Nature, how they are made and what happens to them after they have finished their usefulness.

Table of contents

1. An Historical Introduction to Porphyrin and Chlorophyll Synthesis
Michael R. Moore

2. Biosynthesis of 5-Aminolevulinic Acid
Dieter Jahn and Dirk W. Heinz

3. 5-Aminolaevulinic Acid Dehydratase, Porphobilinogen Deaminase
and Uroporphyrinogen III Synthase
Heidi L. Schubert, Peter T. Erskine and Jonathan B. Cooper

4. Transformation of Uroporphyrinogen III into Protohaem
Johanna E. Cornah and Alison G. Smith

5. Inherited Disorders of Haem Synthesis: The Human Porphyrias
Michael N. Badminton and George H. Elder

6. Heme Degradation: Mechanistic and Physiological Implications
Angela Wilks

7. Regulation of Mammalian Heme Biosynthesis
Amy E. Medlock and Harry A. Dailey

8. Tetrapyrroles in Photodynamic Therapy
David I. Vernon and Ian Walker

9. Heme Transport and Incorporation into Proteins
Linda Thöny-Meyer

10. Heme and Hemoproteins
Andrew W. Munro, Hazel M. Girvan, Kirsty J. McLean, Myles R. Cheesman and David Leys

11. Novel Heme-Protein Interactions—Some More Radical Than Others
Ann Smith

12. Synthesis and Role of Bilins in Photosynthetic Organisms
Nicole Frankenberg-Dinkel and Matthew J. Terry

13. Phytochromes: Bilin-Linked Photoreceptors in Bacteria and Plants
Matthew J. Terry and Alex C. McCormac

14. Biosynthesis of Chlorophyll and Bacteriochlorophyll
Derren J. Heyes and C. Neil Hunter

15. Regulation of Tetrapyrrole Synthesis in Higher Plants
Matthew J. Terry and Alison G. Smith

16. Regulation of the Late Steps of Chlorophyll Biosynthesis
Wolfhart Rüdiger

17. Chlorophyll Breakdown
Bernhard Kräutler

18. Vitamin B₁₂: Biosynthesis of the Corrin Ring
Ross M. Graham, Evelyne Deery and Martin J. Warren

19. Conversion of Cobinamide into Coenzyme B₁₂
Jorge C. EscalanteSemerena, Jesse D. Woodson, Nicole R. Buan and Carmen L. Zayas

20. The Regulation of Cobalamin Biosynthesis
Jeffrey G. Lawrence

21. Coenzyme B₁₂-Catalyzed Radical Isomerizations
Dominique Padovani and Ruma Banerjee

22. Biosynthesis of Siroheme and Coenzyme F₄₃₀
Martin J. Warren, Evelyne Deery and Ruth-Sarah Rose

23. Role of Coenzyme F₄₃₀ in Methanogenesis
Evert C. Duin

24. The Role of Siroheme in Sulfite and Nitrite Reductases
M. Elizabeth Stroupe and Elizabeth D. Getzoff

25. The Role of Heme d1 in Denitrification
Stuart J. Ferguson