Metallation of the transition-state inhibitor N-methyl mesoporphyrin by ferrochelatase: Implications for the catalytic reaction mechanism
Insertion of metals into various tetrapyrroles is catalysed by a group of enzymes called chelatases, e.g. nickel, cobalt, magnesium and ferrochelatase. It has been proposed that catalytic metallation includes distorting the porphyrin substrate by the enzyme towards a transition state-like geometry in which at least one of the pyrrole rings will be available for metal chelation. Here, we present a
