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Chlorophyll Breakdown in a Fern—Discovery of Phyllobilin Isomers with a Rearranged Carbon Skeleton
Author(s) -
Erhart Theresia,
Vergeiner Stefan,
Kreutz Christoph,
Kräutler Bernhard,
Müller Thomas
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201807818
Subject(s) - fern , botany , chlorophyll , carbon skeleton , chemistry , plant physiology , bracken , biology , stereochemistry
All structure‐based information on chlorophyll (Chl) breakdown in the higher plants relies on studies with angiosperms. Herein, the first investigation of a fern is reported, revealing a novel type of Chl catabolites (phyllobilins) in leaves of this large division of the vascular plants, and providing structural insights into an astounding metabolic process of the higher plants that appears to have played a role even in early phases of plant evolution. The tetrapyrrolic Chl catabolites in the cosmopolitan bracken fern were discovered to be phyllobilin isomers with an unprecedented skeleton, proposed to be the striking result of a rearrangement of a hypothetical phyllobilin precursor.