Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 111, Issue 10, Pages 3871-3876Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1401871111
Keywords
biliprotein; photoswitch; photochemistry; bilin; tetrapyrrole
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health [R01 GM068552]
- US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Project [CA-D*-MCB-4126-H]
- National Science Foundation [MGSP 0625440, MCB 0946258]
- Department of Defense [DE-SC0004765]
- Packard Foundation
- GBMF Investigator award
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1004213] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Plant phytochromes are photoswitchable red/far-red photoreceptors that allow competition with neighboring plants for photo-synthetically active red light. In aquatic environments, red and far-red light are rapidly attenuated with depth; therefore, photosynthetic species must use shorter wavelengths of light. Nevertheless, phytochrome-related proteins are found in recently sequenced genomes of many eukaryotic algae from aquatic environments. We examined the photosensory properties of seven phytochromes from diverse algae: four prasinophyte (green algal) species, the heterokont (brown algal) Ectocarpus siliculosus, and two glaucophyte species. We demonstrate that algal phytochromes are not limited to red and far-red responses. Instead, different algal phytochromes can sense orange, green, and even blue light. Characterization of these previously undescribed photosensors using CD spectroscopy supports a structurally heterogeneous chromophore in the far-red-absorbing photostate. Our study thus demonstrates that extensive spectral tuning of phytochromes has evolved in phylogenetically distinct lineages of aquatic photosynthetic eukaryotes.
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