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Glutamyl-transfer RNA: a precursor of heme and chlorophyll biosynthesis
1Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511.
Trends in Biochemical Sciences
|June 1, 1992
Abstract:
In green plants, archaebacteria and many eubacteria, the porphyrin ring that is common to both chlorophyll and heme is synthesized from 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) via an interesting pathway. This two-step process involves the unusual enzymes glutamyl-tRNA reductase and glutamate-1-semialdehyde 2,1-aminomutase. Interest in this pathway has increased since it was discovered that a tRNA cofactor was required for the formation of ALA. This tRNA(Glu) is common to the biosyntheses of both porphyrins and proteins.