Bacterial ferrochelatase turns human: Tyr13 determines the apparent metal specificity of Bacillus subtilis ferrochelatase.
Ferrochelatase catalyzes the insertion of Fe(2+) into protoporphyrin IX. The enzymatic product heme (protoheme IX) is a well-known cofactor in a wide range of proteins. The insertion of metal ions other than Fe(2+) occurs rarely in vivo, but all ferrochelatases that have been studied can insert Zn(2+) at a good rate in vitro. Co(2+), but not Cu(2+), is known to be a good substrate of the mammalian