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. 1973 Jan;51(1):72–75. doi: 10.1104/pp.51.1.72

Formation of Carbon Monoxide and Bile Pigment in Red and Blue-Green Algae 1

Robert F Troxler a, Joy M Dokos a
PMCID: PMC367359  PMID: 16658300

Abstract

Five blue-green and one red algal species produced carbon monoxide during photosynthetic growth. The blue-green algae synthesized CO and phycocyanobilin in equimolar quantities at identical rates. The red alga, Porphyridium cruentum, incorporated Δ-aminolevulinic acid-5-14C into phycoerythrobilin and CO. The ratio of the specific radioactivity of phycoerythrobilin to that of CO, and the kinetics and stoichiometry of phycocyanobilin and CO formation suggest that linear tetrapyrroles in plants are derived by the porphyrin pathway via the intermediate formation of heme. The similarity between bile pigment production in algae and in mammalian systems is discussed.

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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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