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. 1972 Mar;127(1):97–106. doi: 10.1042/bj1270097

Magnesium protoporphyrin chelatase activity in Rhodopseudomonas spheroides. Studies with whole cells

A Gorchein 1
PMCID: PMC1178563  PMID: 4627449

Abstract

1. Whole cells of Rhodopseudomonas spheroides grown under semi-anaerobic conditions in the light incorporated magnesium into exogenous protoporphyrin when incubated with EDTA or the related chelators EGTA, N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-ethylenediamine-NN′N′- triacetate and trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexanetetra-acetate. 2. The reaction was demonstrated under anaerobic conditions in the light or at low oxygen partial pressure in the dark. Partial pressures of oxygen greater than 15% inhibited the reaction. 3. Cells grown under pure oxygen were completely inactive, but on adaptation to growth under low oxygen partial pressure (O2+N2, 5:95) the development of activity paralleled the synthesis of bacteriochlorophyll. 4. The reaction with normal cells did not require protein synthesis, but cells that had lost their activity by being illuminated in Mg2+-deficient medium did not recover it in the absence of protein synthesis. 5. The product of the reaction was magnesium protoporphyrin monomethyl ester. 6. Evidence is presented that insertion of magnesium is obligatorily coupled with methylation and it is concluded that the reaction is dependent on a multienzyme complex.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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