This enzyme catalyses the second of three steps leading to the formation of siroheme from uroporphyrinogen III. The first step involves the donation of two S-adenosyl-L-methionine-derived methyl groups to carbons 2 and 7 of uroporphyrinogen III to form precorrin-2 (EC 2.1.1.107, uroporphyrin-III C-methyltransferase) and the third step involves the chelation of ferrous iron to sirohydrochlorin to form siroheme (EC 4.99.1.4, sirohydrochlorin ferrochelatase). In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the last two steps are carried out by a single bifunctional enzyme, Met8p. In some bacteria, steps 1-3 are catalysed by a single multifunctional protein called CysG, whereas in Bacillus megaterium, three separate enzymes carry out each of the steps, with SirC being responsible for the above reaction.
