Chelatase

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In biochemistry, chelatases are enzymes that catalyze the insertion ("metalation") of naturally occurring tetrapyrroles. Many tetrapyrrole-based cofactors exist in nature including hemes, chlorophylls, and vitamin B12. These metallo cofactors are derived by the reaction of metal cations with tetrapyrroles, which are not ligands per se, but the conjugate acids thereof. In the case of ferrochelatases, the reaction that chelatases catalyze is: [1]

Fe2+ + H2P → FeP + 2 H+

In the above equation H2P represents a sirohydrochlorin or a porphyrin, such as protoporphyrin IX.

Protoporphyrin IX features a rigid 18-membered ring, with a N4 cavity occupied with two protons. The displacement of those protons and insertion of a metal cation requires the presence of chelatases. Protoporphyrin IX.svg
Protoporphyrin IX features a rigid 18-membered ring, with a N4 cavity occupied with two protons. The displacement of those protons and insertion of a metal cation requires the presence of chelatases.

Chelatases are required because porphyrins and related macrocyclic ligands are extremely slow to metalate, despite favorable thermodynamics. These low rates are attributed to the tight fit of the metal into the rigid 18- or 17-membered tetrapyrrole macrocycle. Several families of chelatase are known including cobalt chelatase, magnesium chelatase, and ferrochelatase. Nickel insertion into a sirohydrochlorin also requires a chelatase as part of the biosynthesis of cofactor F430. Apparently that chelatase is identical to the cobalt chelatase. [2]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organometallic chemistry</span> Study of organic compounds containing metal(s)

Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and sometimes broadened to include metalloids like boron, silicon, and selenium, as well. Aside from bonds to organyl fragments or molecules, bonds to 'inorganic' carbon, like carbon monoxide, cyanide, or carbide, are generally considered to be organometallic as well. Some related compounds such as transition metal hydrides and metal phosphine complexes are often included in discussions of organometallic compounds, though strictly speaking, they are not necessarily organometallic. The related but distinct term "metalorganic compound" refers to metal-containing compounds lacking direct metal-carbon bonds but which contain organic ligands. Metal β-diketonates, alkoxides, dialkylamides, and metal phosphine complexes are representative members of this class. The field of organometallic chemistry combines aspects of traditional inorganic and organic chemistry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porphyrin</span> Heterocyclic organic compound with four modified pyrrole subunits

Porphyrins are a group of heterocyclic macrocycle organic compounds, composed of four modified pyrrole subunits interconnected at their α carbon atoms via methine bridges (=CH−). In vertebrates, an essential member of the porphyrin group is heme, which is a component of hemoproteins, whose functions include carrying oxygen in the bloodstream. In plants, an essential porphyrin derivative is chlorophyll, which is involved in light-harvesting and electron transfer in photosynthesis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aminolevulinic acid synthase</span> Class of enzymes

Aminolevulinic acid synthase (ALA synthase, ALAS, or delta-aminolevulinic acid synthase) is an enzyme (EC 2.3.1.37) that catalyzes the synthesis of δ-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) the first common precursor in the biosynthesis of all tetrapyrroles such as hemes, cobalamins and chlorophylls. The reaction is as follows:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferrochelatase</span>

Protoporphyrin ferrochelatase (EC 4.98.1.1, formerly EC 4.99.1.1, or ferrochelatase; systematic name protoheme ferro-lyase (protoporphyrin-forming)) is an enzyme encoded by the FECH gene in humans. Ferrochelatase catalyses the eighth and terminal step in the biosynthesis of heme, converting protoporphyrin IX into heme B. It catalyses the reaction:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uroporphyrinogen III</span> Chemical compound

Uroporphyrinogen III is a tetrapyrrole, the first macrocyclic intermediate in the biosynthesis of heme, chlorophyll, vitamin B12, and siroheme. It is a colorless compound, like other porphyrinogens.

Bioorganometallic chemistry is the study of biologically active molecules that contain carbon directly bonded to metals or metalloids. The importance of main-group and transition-metal centers has long been recognized as important to the function of enzymes and other biomolecules. However, only a small subset of naturally-occurring metal complexes and synthetically prepared pharmaceuticals are organometallic; that is, they feature a direct covalent bond between the metal(loid) and a carbon atom. The first, and for a long time, the only examples of naturally occurring bioorganometallic compounds were the cobalamin cofactors (vitamin B12) in its various forms. In the 21st century, discovery of new systems containing carbon-metal bonds in biology, bioorganometallic chemistry is rapidly emerging as a distinct subdiscipline of bioinorganic chemistry that straddles organometallic chemistry and biochemistry. Naturally occurring bioorganometallics include enzymes and sensor proteins. Also within this realm are synthetically prepared organometallic compounds that serve as new drugs and imaging agents (technetium-99m sestamibi) as well as the principles relevant to the toxicology of organometallic compounds (e.g., methylmercury). Consequently, bioorganometallic chemistry is increasingly relevant to medicine and pharmacology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protoporphyrin IX</span> Chemical compound

Protoporphyrin IX is an organic compound, classified as a porphyrin, that plays an important role in living organisms as a precursor to other critical compounds like heme (hemoglobin) and chlorophyll. It is a deeply colored solid that is not soluble in water. The name is often abbreviated as PPIX.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Precorrin-2 dehydrogenase</span>

In enzymology, a precorrin-2 dehydrogenase (EC 1.3.1.76) is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sirohydrochlorin cobaltochelatase</span> Enzyme

The enzyme sirohydrochlorin cobaltochelatase (EC 4.99.1.3) catalyzes the reaction

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sirohydrochlorin ferrochelatase</span> Enzyme

The enzyme sirohydrochlorin ferrochelatase (EC 4.99.1.4) catalyzes the following reaction:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dioxygenase</span> Class of enzymes

Dioxygenases are oxidoreductase enzymes. Aerobic life, from simple single-celled bacteria species to complex eukaryotic organisms, has evolved to depend on the oxidizing power of dioxygen in various metabolic pathways. From energetic adenosine triphosphate (ATP) generation to xenobiotic degradation, the use of dioxygen as a biological oxidant is widespread and varied in the exact mechanism of its use. Enzymes employ many different schemes to use dioxygen, and this largely depends on the substrate and reaction at hand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siroheme</span>

Siroheme is a heme-like prosthetic group at the active sites of some enzymes to accomplish the six-electron reduction of sulfur and nitrogen. It is a cofactor at the active site of sulfite reductase, which plays a major role in sulfur assimilation pathway, converting sulfite into sulfide, which can be incorporated into the organic compound homocysteine.

A transition metal oxo complex is a coordination complex containing an oxo ligand. Formally O2-, an oxo ligand can be bound to one or more metal centers, i.e. it can exist as a terminal or (most commonly) as bridging ligands (Fig. 1). Oxo ligands stabilize high oxidation states of a metal. They are also found in several metalloproteins, for example in molybdenum cofactors and in many iron-containing enzymes. One of the earliest synthetic compounds to incorporate an oxo ligand is potassium ferrate (K2FeO4), which was likely prepared by Georg E. Stahl in 1702.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cobalamin biosynthesis</span>

Cobalamin biosynthesis is the process by which bacteria and archea make cobalamin, vitamin B12. Many steps are involved in converting aminolevulinic acid via uroporphyrinogen III and adenosylcobyric acid to the final forms in which it is used by enzymes in both the producing organisms and other species, including humans who acquire it through their diet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cofactor F430</span> Chemical compound

F430 is the cofactor (sometimes called the coenzyme) of the enzyme methyl coenzyme M reductase (MCR). MCR catalyzes the reaction EC 2.8.4.1 that releases methane in the final step of methanogenesis:

Radical SAM is a designation for a superfamily of enzymes that use a [4Fe-4S]+ cluster to reductively cleave S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) to generate a radical, usually a 5′-deoxyadenosyl radical (5'-dAdo), as a critical intermediate. These enzymes utilize this radical intermediate to perform diverse transformations, often to functionalize unactivated C-H bonds. Radical SAM enzymes are involved in cofactor biosynthesis, enzyme activation, peptide modification, post-transcriptional and post-translational modifications, metalloprotein cluster formation, tRNA modification, lipid metabolism, biosynthesis of antibiotics and natural products etc. The vast majority of known radical SAM enzymes belong to the radical SAM superfamily, and have a cysteine-rich motif that matches or resembles CxxxCxxC. rSAMs comprise the largest superfamily of metal-containing enzymes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porphyrinogen</span>

In biochemistry a porphyrinogen is a member of a class of naturally occurring compounds with a tetrapyrrole core, a macrocycle of four pyrrole rings connected by four methylene bridges. They can be viewed as derived from the parent compound hexahydroporphine by the substitution of various functional groups for hydrogen atoms in the outermost (20-carbon) ring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chlorophyllide</span> Chemical compound

Chlorophyllide a and Chlorophyllide b are the biosynthetic precursors of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b respectively. Their propionic acid groups are converted to phytyl esters by the enzyme chlorophyll synthase in the final step of the pathway. Thus the main interest in these chemical compounds has been in the study of chlorophyll biosynthesis in plants, algae and cyanobacteria. Chlorophyllide a is also an intermediate in the biosynthesis of bacteriochlorophylls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sirohydrochlorin</span> Chemical compound

Sirohydrochlorin is a tetrapyrrole macrocyclic metabolic intermediate in the biosynthesis of sirohaem, the iron-containing prosthetic group in sulfite reductase enzymes. It is also the biosynthetic precursor to cofactor F430, an enzyme which catalyzes the release of methane in the final step of methanogenesis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transition metal porphyrin complexes</span>

Transition metal porphyrin complexes are a family of coordination complexes of the conjugate base of porphyrins. Iron porphyrin complexes occur widely in Nature, which has stimulated extensive studies on related synthetic complexes. The metal-porphyrin interaction is a strong one such that metalloporphyrins are thermally robust. They are catalysts and exhibit rich optical properties, although these complexes remain mainly of academic interest.

References

  1. Kaushik Saha; Michaël Moulin; Alison G. Smith (2009). "Tetrapyrroles in Plants: Chemical Biology of Metal Insertion and Removal". Wiley Encyclopedia of Chemical Biology. Encyclopedia of Chemical Biology. John Wiley & Sons. doi:10.1002/9780470048672.wecb454. ISBN   978-0470048672.
  2. Moore, Simon J.; Sowa, Sven T.; Schuchardt, Christopher; Deery, Evelyne; Lawrence, Andrew D.; Ramos, José Vazquez; Billig, Susan; Birkemeyer, Claudia; Chivers, Peter T. (2017-03-02). "Elucidation of the biosynthesis of the methane catalyst coenzyme F430". Nature. 543 (7643): 78–82. doi:10.1038/nature21427. ISSN   0028-0836. PMC   5337119 . PMID   28225763.