Bacteriophytochromes: phytochrome-like photoreceptors from nonphotosynthetic eubacteria.
Phytochromes are a family of photoreceptors used by green plants to entrain their development to the light environment. The distribution of these chromoproteins has been expanded beyond photoautotrophs with the discovery of phytochrome-like proteins in the nonphotosynthetic eubacteria Deinococcus radiodurans and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Like plant phytochromes, the D. radiodurans receptor covalently binds linear tetrapyrroles autocatalytically to generate a photochromic holoprotein. However, the attachment site is distinct, using a histidine to potentially form a Schiff base linkage. Sequence homology and mutational analysis suggest that D. radiodurans bacteriophytochrome functions as a light-regulated histidine kinase, which helps protect the bacterium from visible light.[1]References
- Bacteriophytochromes: phytochrome-like photoreceptors from nonphotosynthetic eubacteria. Davis, S.J., Vener, A.V., Vierstra, R.D. Science (1999) [Pubmed]
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