University of Bayreuth, Press Release No. 75/2022 - 16 May 2022
In Nature Communications: New insights into photoreceptors and biological light control
Plants, fungi, and bacteria perceive blue light through photoreceptors. Light triggers photochemical reactions that control vital processes in cells. Researchers at the University of Bayreuth have now discovered that certain receptors do not necessarily require a specific glutamine, which was previously thought to be indispensable. Even without this glutamine, blue light can trigger crucial control signals in many organisms, albeit often with reduced efficiency. The results presented in Nature Communications make an important contribution to understanding the mechanisms of photoreceptors and their applications.
During evolution, LOV proteins may have arisen from flavin-binding precursors that lacked both the glutamine and a cysteine residue. Later acquisition of both residues would have rendered signal transduction upon blue light absorption more efficient.
Andreas Möglich.
Crystal structures of a LOV protein with the glutamine replaced by a leucine (L513). Compared to the dark state (left), the LOV protein exhibits rearrangements of certain residues, e.g., asparagine N414, upon blue light absorption.
Andreas Möglich.