Unravelling chlorophyll catabolism in higher plants

Chlorophyll metabolism is probably the most visible manifestation of life. In spite of this, chlorophyll catabolism has remained something of a mystery until about 10 years ago. At that time, the first non-green tetrapyrrolic chlorophyll breakdown products from higher plants were discovered, and the structure of the first one of them was elucidated by modern spectroscopic methods. In the meantime, the essential structural features of chlorophyll catabolites and some of the biochemistry of chlorophyll breakdown in higher plants have been uncovered, as outlined in this article.