Coenzymes: Haem

Jennifer Cheek, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
John H Dawson, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

Published online: April 2001

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0000667

The tetrapyrrole porphyrin haem prosthetic group is found in a wide variety of proteins in almost all prokaryotic organisms. These proteins perform a diverse range of functions, including dioxygen binding, oxygen atom transfer, substrate oxidation and electron transport.

Keywords: haem; porphyrin; peroxidase; oxygenase

Figure 1. Naturally occurring haems.
Figure 2. Haem structures.
Figure 3. Chlorophyll a.
Figure 4. Oxygen complex structures.
Figure 5. Horseradish peroxidase cycle.
Figure 6. Formation of peroxidase compound I.
Figure 7. The ‘push–pull‘ mechanisms for dioxygen bond cleavage in cytochrome P450 and peroxidase systems.
scheme 1.
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 References
    Dawson JH (1988) Probing structure–function relations in heme-containing oxygenases and peroxidases. Science 240: 433–439.
    Dawson JH and Sono M (1987) Cytochrome P450 and chloroperoxidase: thiolate-ligated heme enzymes. Spectroscopic determination of their active site structures and mechanistic implications of thiolate ligation. Chemical Reviews 87: 1255–1276.
    Dunford HB and Stillman JS (1976) On the function and mechanism of action of peroxidases. Coordination Chemical Review 19: 187–251.
    English AM and Tsaprailis G (1995) Catalytic structure–function relationships in heme peroxidases. Advances in Inorganic Chemistry 43: 79–125.
    Sono M, Roach MP, Coulter ED and Dawson JH (1996) Heme-containing oxygenases. Chemical Reviews 96: 2841–2888.
 Further Reading
    book Lippard SJ and Berg JM (1994) Principles of Bioinorganic Chemistry. Mill Valley, CA: University Science Books.
    book Branden C and Toose J (1991) Introduction to Protein Structure. New York: Garland Publishing.
    book Dunford HB (1991) "Horseradish peroxidase: structure and kinetic properties". In: Everse J, Everse KE and Grisham MB (eds) Peroxidases in Chemistry and Biology, pp. 1–24. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
    book English AM (1994) "Iron: heme proteins, peroxidases, and catalases". In: King RB (ed.) Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry, pp. 1682–1697. New York: Wiley.
    book Ingraham LL and Meyer DL (1985) Biochemistry of Dioxygen. New York: Plenum Press.
    book Kadish KM, Smith KM and Guilard R (eds) (2000) The Porphyrin Handbook. New York: Academic Press.
    book Sono M and Dawson JH (1994) "Iron: heme proteins, mono- and dioxygenases". In: King RB (ed.) Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry, pp. 1661–1682. New York: Wiley.

Related Sub-Topics:

Protein Structure | Proteins: Structure, Function, Metabolism | Enzymes: Structure and Action Mechanism
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Article Title: Coenzymes: Haem
 
How to Cite close
Cheek, Jennifer, and Dawson, John H(Apr 2001) Coenzymes: Haem. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0000667]