Approach to a Comparative Study of the Metabolism of Porphyrins and Chlorophylls

Abstract

Metabolic pathways are series of successive biochemical reactions catalyzed by enzymes which together constitute a process of extraordinary complexity, the cellular metabolism. Like any other biological phenomenon, metabolism is the result of evolution. Different techniques are used to compare characteristics of living entities seeking to analyze the similarity between them. The features or characteristics that define species are of different types: molecular, metabolic, cellular, environmental, behavioral, etc. Depending on the similarity, biological species and any entity of the biological hierarchy, are sorted and classified. This paper focuses on studying a characteristic of organisms that is metabolism of porphyrins and chlorophylls using cladistic procedures, unlike others, allow crawl the changes in this feature. The result of a cladistic analysis is an evolutionary hypothesis, a hypothesis about the evolution of metabolism of porphyrins and chlorophylls. The work raises two objectives: firstly, hypotheses about the evolution of metabolism of porphyrins and chlorophylls; otherwise, hypotheses on the evolution of enzymes involved in cellular metabolism this part, opening the possibility that some of them serve as phylogenetic marker.