In enzymology, a protochlorophyllide reductase is an enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 that catalyzes

Catalysis

Catalysis is the change in rate of a chemical reaction due to the participation of a substance called a catalyst. Unlike other reagents that participate in the chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. A catalyst may participate in multiple chemical transformations....

 the chemical reaction

Chemical reaction

A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Chemical reactions can be either spontaneous, requiring no input of energy, or non-spontaneous, typically following the input of some type of energy, such as heat, light or electricity...

chlorophyllide a + NADP⁺ protochlorophyllide + NADPH + H⁺

Thus, the two substrates

Substrate (biochemistry)

In biochemistry, a substrate is a molecule upon which an enzyme acts. Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions involving the substrate. In the case of a single substrate, the substrate binds with the enzyme active site, and an enzyme-substrate complex is formed. The substrate is transformed into one or...

 of this enzyme are chlorophyllide a and NADP⁺

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, abbreviated NADP or TPN in older notation , is a coenzyme used in anabolic reactions, such as lipid and nucleic acid synthesis, which require NADPH as a reducing agent....

, whereas its 3 products

Product (chemistry)

Product are formed during chemical reactions as reagents are consumed. Products have lower energy than the reagents and are produced during the reaction according to the second law of thermodynamics. The released energy comes from changes in chemical bonds between atoms in reagent molecules and...

 are protochlorophyllide

Protochlorophyllide

Protochlorophyllide, or monovinyl protochlorophyllide, is an immediate precursor of chlorophyll a that lacks the phytol side-chain of chlorophyll. Unlike chlorophyll, protochlorophyllide is highly fluorescent; mutants that accumulate it glow red if irradiated with blue light...

, NADPH

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, abbreviated NADP or TPN in older notation , is a coenzyme used in anabolic reactions, such as lipid and nucleic acid synthesis, which require NADPH as a reducing agent....

, and H⁺

Hydrogen ion

Hydrogen ion is recommended by IUPAC as a general term for all ions of hydrogen and its isotopes.Depending on the charge of the ion, two different classes can be distinguished: positively charged ions and negatively charged ions....

.

This enzyme belongs to the family of oxidoreductase

Oxidoreductase

In biochemistry, an oxidoreductase is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of electrons from one molecule to another...

s, specifically those acting on the CH-CH group of donor with NAD+ or NADP+ as acceptor. The systematic name of this enzyme class is chlorophyllide-a:NADP+ 7,8-oxidoreductase. Other names in common use include NADPH2-protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase, NADPH-protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase, NADPH-protochlorophyllide reductase, protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase, and protochlorophyllide photooxidoreductase. This enzyme participates in porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism.

There are two structurally unrelated proteins with this activity: the light - dependent and the dark - operative. The light dependent reductase needs light to operate. The dark - operative version is a completely different protein, consisting of three subunits that exhibit significant sequence similarity to the three subunits of nitrogenase

Nitrogenase

Nitrogenases are enzymes used by some organisms to fix atmospheric nitrogen gas . It is the only known family of enzymes that accomplish this process. Dinitrogen is quite inert because of the strength of its N-N triple bond...

. This enzyme might be evolutionary older but (being similar to nitrogenase) is highly sensitive to free oxygen

Oxygen

Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

and does not work if its concentration exceeds about 3 % . Hence the alternative, light dependent version needed to evolve.