ABSTRACT
The products of the porphyrin pathway in plants are essential participants in major biological processes such as respiration and photosynthesis and thus are essential for life on earth. One major branch of the pathway leads to heme, which is the prosthetic group of the cytochromes and oxidases that are required to generate energy in biological systems. Another branch of the porphyrin pathway in plants leads to the synthesis of pigments that are required to capture light energy for conversion to a form that can be stored and later utilized by organisms. This chapter will concentrate on the latter pathway, which is unique to photosynthetic organisms.
