S-Adenosyl methionine (SAM), also known under the commercial names of SAMe, SAM-e, or AdoMet, is a common cosubstrate involved in methyl group transfers, transsulfuration, and aminopropylation. Although these anabolic reactions occur throughout the body, most SAM is produced and consumed in the liver. More than 40 methyl transfers from SAM are known, to various substrates such as nucleic acids, proteins, lipids and secondary metabolites. It is made from adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and methionine by methionine adenosyltransferase. SAM was first discovered by Giulio Cantoni in 1952.
Bacteriochlorophylls (BChl) are photosynthetic pigments that occur in various phototrophic bacteria. They were discovered by C. B. van Niel in 1932. They are related to chlorophylls, which are the primary pigments in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Organisms that contain bacteriochlorophyll conduct photosynthesis to sustain their energy requirements, but the process is anoxygenic and does not produce oxygen as a byproduct. They use wavelengths of light not absorbed by plants or cyanobacteria. Replacement of Mg2+ with protons gives bacteriophaeophytin (BPh), the phaeophytin form.
Chlorophyll a is a specific form of chlorophyll used in oxygenic photosynthesis. It absorbs most energy from wavelengths of violet-blue and orange-red light, and it is a poor absorber of green and near-green portions of the spectrum. Chlorophyll does not reflect light but chlorophyll-containing tissues appear green because green light is diffusively reflected by structures like cell walls. This photosynthetic pigment is essential for photosynthesis in eukaryotes, cyanobacteria and prochlorophytes because of its role as primary electron donor in the electron transport chain. Chlorophyll a also transfers resonance energy in the antenna complex, ending in the reaction center where specific chlorophylls P680 and P700 are located.
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.
In enzymology, a [cytochrome c]-lysine N-methyltransferase (EC 2.1.1.59) is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction
In enzymology, an isoflavone 7-O-methyltransferase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction
In enzymology, a precorrin-2 C20-methyltransferase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction
In enzymology, precorrin-3B C17-methyltransferase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction
The isoprenylcysteine o-methyltransferase carries out carboxyl methylation of cleaved eukaryotic proteins that terminate in a CaaX motif. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae this methylation is carried out by Ste14p, an integral endoplasmic reticulum membrane protein. Ste14p is the founding member of the isoprenylcysteine carboxyl methyltransferase (ICMT) family, whose members share significant sequence homology.
In enzymology, a quercetin 3-O-methyltransferase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction
In enzymology, a sterol 24-C-methyltransferase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction
In enzymology, protochlorophyllide reductases (POR) are enzymes that catalyze the conversion from protochlorophyllide to chlorophyllide a. They are oxidoreductases participating in the biosynthetic pathway to chlorophylls.
Magnesium-chelatase is a three-component enzyme (EC 6.6.1.1) that catalyses the insertion of Mg2+ into protoporphyrin IX. This is the first unique step in the synthesis of chlorophyll and bacteriochlorophyll. As a result, it is thought that Mg-chelatase has an important role in channeling intermediates into the (bacterio)chlorophyll branch in response to conditions suitable for photosynthetic growth:
In enzymology, chlorophyll synthase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction
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.
Radical SAMenzymes is 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. Radical SAM enzymes comprise the largest superfamily of metal-containing enzymes.
Magnesium-protoporphyrin IX monomethyl ester (oxidative) cyclase, is an enzyme with systematic name magnesium-protoporphyrin-IX 13-monomethyl ester, ferredoxin:oxygen oxidoreductase (hydroxylating). In plants this enzyme catalyses the following overall chemical reaction
Methyl halide transferase is an enzyme with systematic name S-adenosylmethionine:iodide methyltransferase. This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction
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.
Chlorophyllide a reductase (EC 1.3.7.15), also known as COR, is an enzyme with systematic name bacteriochlorophyllide-a:ferredoxin 7,8-oxidoreductase. It catalyses the following chemical reaction
