A dephytylase involved in chlorophyll turnover

Chlorophyll has an aliphatic phytol side chain that anchors it to light-harvesting complexes. During senescence, chlorophyll is degraded first by the enzymatic removal of Mg to produce pheophytin, which is dephytlated by pheophytinase. Through the identification of a mutant allele with elevated enzymatic activity, Lin et al. have now identified an enzyme, CLD1, that directly dephytylates chlorophyll. The authors propose that CLD1 is involved in the steady-state turnover of chlorophyll in green tissues, and is required for thermotolerance to moderately high temperatures. Plant Cell 10.1105/tpc.16.00478