Protoporphyrinogen IX
Protoporphyrinogen IX is an organic chemical compound which is produced along the synthesis of porphyrins, a class of critical biochemicals that include hemoglobin and chlorophyll. It is a direct precursor of protoporphyrin IX. The compound is a porphyrinogen, meaning that it has a non-aromatic hexahydroporphine core, which will be oxidized to a porphine core in later stages of the heme synthesis. Like most porphyrinogens, it is colorless.[citation needed] BiosynthesisThe compound is synthesized in most organisms from coproporphyrinogen III by the enzyme coproporphyrinogen oxidase: The process entails conversion of two of four propionic acid groups to vinyl groups. In coproporphyrinogen III, the substituents on the pyrrole rings have the arrangement MP-MP-MP-PM, where M and P are methyl and propionic acid, respectively. In protoporphyrinogen IX, the sequence becomes MV-MV-MP-PM, where V is vinyl. By the action of protoporphyrinogen oxidase, protoporphyrinogen IX is later converted into protoporphyrin IX, the first colored tetrapyrrole in the biosynthesis of hemes.[1] References
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