Cloned cDNA and genomic sequences have been analyzed to deduce the amino acid sequence of phytochrome from etiolated Avena. Restriction endonuclease site polymorphism between clones indicates that at least four phytochrome genes are expressed in this tissue. Sequence analysis of two complete and one partial coding region shows approximately 98% homology at both the nucleotide and amino acid levels, with the majority of amino acid changes being conservative. High sequence homology is also found in the 5'-untranslated region but significant divergence occurs in the 3'-untranslated region. The phytochrome polypeptides are 1128 amino acid residues long corresponding to a molecular mass of 125 kdaltons. The known protein sequence at the chromophore attachment site occurs only once in the polypeptide, establishing that phytochrome has a single chromophore per monomer covalently linked to Cys-321. Computer analyses of the amino acid sequences have provided predictions regarding a number of structural features of the phytochrome molecule.

We have examined phytochrome-regulated transcription of phytochrome (phy) and chlorophyll a/b binding protein (cab) genes in dark-grown Avena seedlings by using run-on

We have isolated several cDNA clones for phytochrome from a dicot, Cucurbita pepo L. cv. Black Beauty (zucchini), and have used them to study the regulation of Cucurbita phytochrome mRNA levels. A cDNA library was constructed from poly(A)(+) RNA isolated from etiolated Cucurbita hypocotyl hooks and enriched for phytochrome mRNA by size fractionation. This library was screened with a (32)P-labeled fragment isolated from an Avena phytochrome cDNA clone. Several putative phytochrome clones were isolated and mapped by restriction endonuclease analysis. On the basis of this analysis there is no evidence for the expression of multiple phytochrome genes in Cucurbita. Recent sequence analysis has confirmed that the largest of these clones, pFMD1 (∼3.6 kb), does indeed encode phytochrome and that it contains the entire amino acid coding sequence for Cucurbita phytochrome (33). RNA blot analysis has revealed that two polyadenylated phytochrome transcripts (∼5.6 kb and ∼4.2 kb) are present in both cotyledons and hypocotyl hooks of Cucurbita. In etiolated Cucurbita seedlings given a saturating pulse of red light, the abundance of both transcripts coordinately declines to 50-60% of the dark levels within 3 h and reaccumulates to dark levels within 24 h. Reversal of induction of this response by a far-red light pulse immediately following red light treatment is not observed, which is in contrast to the far-red reversibility of the red light promoted decrease in phytochrome mRNA abundance observed in Avena (6). Etiolated seedlings transferred to continuous white light also show a coordinate decrease in the levels of the two RNAs to ∼40% of the dark levels within 3 h. The magnitude of the light-induced decline in phytochrome mRNA abundance in Cucurbita is substantially less than the decrease previously reported for Avena (6).

No abstract

We have isolated several cDNA clones for phytochrome, a plant regulatory photoreceptor. A cDNA library was constructed by using etiolated Avena poly(A)+ RNA enriched for phytochrome mRNA by size fractionation. Replicate arrays of colonies were differentially screened with cDNA probes made from poly(A)+ RNA that had been either enriched in or depleted of phytochrome mRNA. Of the colonies hybridizing preferentially with the enriched probe, several contained plasmids that specifically selected phytochrome mRNA when assayed by hybridization-selection and translation. The largest such plasmid, pAP-2, was used to isolate clones from an Avena genomic library. One of these genomic clones was then used to screen a second cDNA library in an attempt to identify full-length phytochrome clones. The largest of the plasmids thus obtained, pAP-3, contains a 3.4-kilobasepair (kbp) insert, verified to contain phytochrome sequences by hybridization-selection and translation. Sequence analysis of pAP-2 and pAP-3 revealed that the two clones are identical in sequence through a 2.4-kbp region in which they overlap. However, the pAP-2 insert contains, in addition, 1.5 kbp of sequence of unknown origin, the apparent result of a recombination event. Blots of poly(A)+ RNA hybridized with 32P-labeled pAP-2 or pAP-3 show a single mRNA band at 4.2 kilobases. Blot analysis of RNA from dark-grown and from red-irradiated tissue demonstrates that a previously reported light-induced decrease in translatable phytochrome mRNA results from a decrease in physical abundance of this mRNA.Phytochrome is the best characterized of the regulatory photoreceptors that control plant development in response to light (1). The molecule is a chromoprotein consisting of a linear tetrapyrrole chromophore covalently linked to a polypeptide of molecular mass in the range of 120-127 kilodaltons (kDa), depending on plant species (2,3