Ferrochelatase catalyses the formation of protoheme by inserting Fe(2+) into protoporphyrin IX. Arabidopsis possess at least two ferrochelatase proteins, FC1 (AT5G26030) and FC2 (AT2G30390) . While ferrochelatase I is involved in heme biosynthesis in non-photosynthetic tissues and induced by oxidative stress in photosynthetic tissues to supply heme for defensive hemoproteins, FC-II is speculated to operate in photosynthetic cytochromes.
