Cyanochromes are blue/green light photoreversible photoreceptors defined by a stable double cysteine linkage to a phycoviolobilin-type chromophore.

ABSTRACT: Phytochromes are a collection of bilin-containing photoreceptors that regulate a diverse array of processes in microorganisms and plants through photoconversion between two stable states, a red light-absorbing Pr form, and a far red light-absorbing Pfr form. Recently, a novel set of phytochrome-like chromoproteins was discovered in cyanobacteria, designated here as cyanochromes, that instead photoconvert between stable blue and green light-absorbing forms Pb and Pg, respectively. Here, we show that the distinctive absorption properties of cyanochromes are facilitated through the binding of phycocyanobilin via two stable cysteine-based thioether linkages within the cGMP phosphodiesterase/adenyl cyclase/FhlA domain. Absorption, resonance Raman and infrared spectroscopy, and molecular modelin

SUBMITTER: Ulijasz AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2785607 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature