We have examined the seed germination in Arabidopsis thaliana of wild type (wt), and phytochrome A (PhyA)-and B (PhyB)-mutants in terms of incubation time and environmental light effects. Seed germination of the wt and PhyA-null mutant (phyA) was photoreversibly regulated by red and far-red lights of 10-1,000 ,umol m-2 when incubated in darkness for 1-14 hr, but no germination occurred in PhyB-null mutant (phyB). When wt seeds and thephyB mutant seeds were incubated in darkness for 48 hr, they synthesized PhyA during dark incubation and germinated upon exposure to red light of 1-100 nmol m-2 and far-red light of 0.5-10 ,umol m-2, whereas the phyA mutant showed no such response. The results indicate that the seed germination is regulated by PhyA and PhyB but not by other phytochromes, and the effects of PhyA and PhyB are separable in this assay. We determined action spectra separately for PhyA-and PhyB-specific induction of seed germination at Okazaki large spectrograph. Action spectra for the PhyA response show that monochromatic 300-780 nm lights of very low fluence induced the germination, and this induction was not photoreversible in the range examined. Action spectra for the PhyB response show that germination was photoreversibly regulated by alternate irradiations with light of 0.01-1 mmol m-2 at wavelengths of 540-690 nm and 695-780 nm. The present work clearly demonstrated that PhyA photoirreversibly triggers the germination upon irradiations with ultraviolet, visible and farred light of very low fluence, while PhyB controls the photoreversible effects of low fluence.

Blue light regulates processes such as the development of plants and fungi and the behaviour of microbes. Two types of blue-light receptor flavoprotein have been identified: cryptochromes, which have partial similarity to photolyases, and phototropins, which are photoregulated protein kinases. The former have also been found in animals with evidence of essential roles in circadian rhythms. Euglena gracilis, a unicellular flagellate, abruptly changes its swimming direction after a sudden increase or decrease in incident blue light intensity, that is, step-up or step-down photophobic responses, resulting in photoavoidance or photoaccumulation, respectively. Although these photobehaviours of Euglena have been studied for a century, the photoreceptor molecules mediating them have remained unknown. Here we report the discovery and biochemical characterization of a new type of blue-light receptor flavoprotein, photoactivated adenylyl cyclase, in the photoreceptor organelle of Euglena gracilis, with molecular genetic evidence that it mediates the step-up photophobic response.

Under strong light, photosystem II (PSII) of oxygenic photosynthetic organisms is inactivated, and this phenomenon is called photoinhibition. In a widely accepted model, photoinhibition is induced by excess light energy, which is absorbed by chlorophyll but not utilized in photosynthesis. Using monochromatic light from the Okazaki Large Spectrograph and thylakoid membranes from Thermosynechococcus elongatus, we observed that UV and blue light inactivated the oxygen-evolving complex much faster than the photochemical reaction center of PSII. These observations suggested that the light-induced damage was associated with a UV- and blue light-absorbing center in the oxygen-evolving complex of PSII. The action spectrum of the primary event in photodamage to PSII revealed the strong effects of UV and blue light and differed considerably from the absorption spectra of chlorophyll and thylakoid membranes. By contrast to the photoinduced inactivation of the oxygen-evolving complex in untreated thylakoid membranes, red light efficiently induced inactivation of the PSII reaction center in Tris-treated thylakoid membranes, and the action spectrum resembled the absorption spectrum of chlorophyll. Our observations suggest that photodamage to PSII occurs in two steps. Step 1 is the light-induced inactivation of the oxygen-evolving complex. Step 2, occurring after step 1 is complete, is the inactivation of the PSII reaction center by light absorbed by chlorophyll. We confirmed our model by illumination of untreated thylakoid membranes with blue and UV light, which inactivated the oxygen-evolving complex, and then with red light, which inactivated the photochemical reaction center.

SummaryGreen¯uorescent protein (GFP) makes it possible for organelles and protein transport pathways to be visualized in living cells. However, GFP¯uorescence has not yet been observed in the vacuoles of any organs of higher plants. We found that the¯uorescence of a vacuole-targeted GFP was stably observed in the vacuoles of transgenic Arabidopsis plants under dark conditions, and that the¯uorescence rapidly disappeared under light conditions. The vacuolar GFP was rapidly degraded within 1 h in the light, especially blue light. An inhibitor of vacuolar type H -ATPase, concanamycin A, and an inhibitor of papain-type cysteine proteinase, E-64d, abolished both the light-dependent disappearance of GFP¯uorescence and GFP degradation in the vacuoles. An in vitro assay showed that bacterially expressed GFP was degraded by extracts of Arabidopsis cultured-cell protoplasts at an acidic pH in the light. These results suggest that blue light induced a conformational change in GFP, and the resulting GFP in the vacuole was easily degraded by vacuolar papain-type cysteine proteinase(s) under the acidic pH. The light-dependent degradation accounts for the failure to observe GFP¯uorescence in the vacuoles of plant organs. Our results show that stable GFP-¯uoresced vacuoles are achieved by transferring the plants from the light into the dark before inspection with a¯uorescent microscope. This might eliminate a large hurdle in studies of the vacuolar-targeting machinery and the organ-and stage-speci®c differentiation of endomembrane systems in plants.

Abstract:The flagellate Euglena gracilis contains a photoactivated adenylyl cyclase (PAC), consisting of the flavoproteins PACa and PACb. Here we report functional expression of PACs in Xenopus laevis oocytes, HEK293 cells and in Drosophila melanogaster, where neuronal expression yields light-induced changes in behavior. The activity of PACs is strongly and reversibly enhanced by blue light, providing a powerful tool for light-induced manipulation of cAMP in animal cells.cAMP is a ubiquitous second messenger across phyla 1 and multiple adenylyl cyclases, and phosphodiesterases are involved in its formation and degradation, respectively. A light-activated adenylyl cyclase that is crucial for photoavoidance has been identified in the unicellular flagellate Euglena gracilis 2 . This adenylyl cyclase is composed of two PACa and two PACb subunits, which exhibit adenylyl cyclase activity that is enhanced by blue light. Each subunit harbors two BLUF-type photoreceptor domains, binding flavin adenine dinucleotide 3,4 , and two catalytic domains that are homologous to

Two wild-type substrains of a motile cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 show positive phototaxis toward a light source (PCC-P) and negative phototaxis away from light (PCC-N). In this study, we found that a novel two-component system of photoresponse is involved in the phototactic regulation. Inactivation of slr1212 (pixA), which encodes a photoreceptor histidine kinase, reverted the positive phototaxis of PCC-P to negative phototaxis, and inactivation of the downstream slr1213 (nixB) and slr1214 (nixC), which encode AraC-like transcription factor-type and PatA-type response regulators, respectively, reverted the negative phototaxis of PCC-N to positive phototaxis. Opposite effects of pixA and nixBC disruption implies an unexpected signal transduction pathway in the switching of positive and negative phototaxis. The blue/green-type cyanobacteriochrome GAF domain of PixA was expressed in Synechocystis and phycocyanobilin-producing Escherichia coli. The holoprotein covalently bound a chromophore phycoviolobilin and showed reversible photoconversion between the violet- (Pv, λ(peak) = 396 nm) and green-absorbing (Pg, λ(peak) = 533 nm) forms, although the protein from E. coli partially bound a precursor phycocyanobilin. These results were discussed with regard to an idea that PixA serves as a violet light receptor for switching of positive and negative phototaxis by transcriptional and functional regulation.

BLUF (a sensor of Blue-Light Using FAD) is a novel putative photoreceptor domain that is found in many bacteria and some eukaryotic algae. As found on genome analysis, certain cyanobacteria have BLUF proteins with a short C-terminal extension. As typical examples, Tll0078 from thermophilic Thermosynechococcus elongatus BP-1 and Slr1694 from mesophilic Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 were comparatively studied. FAD of both proteins was hardly reduced by exogenous reductants or mediators except methylviologen but showed a typical spectral shift to a longer wavelength upon excitation with blue light. In particular, freshly prepared Tll0078 protein showed slow but reversible aggregation, indicative of light-induced conformational changes in the protein structure. Tll0078 is far more stable as to heat treatment than Slr1694, as judged from flavin fluorescence. The slr1694-disruptant showed phototactic motility away from the light source (negative phototaxis), while the wild type Synechocystis showed positive phototaxis toward the source. Yeast two-hybrid screening with slr1694 showed self-interaction of Slr1694 (PixD) with itself and interaction with a novel PatA-like response regulator, Slr1693 (PixE). These results were discussed in relation to the signaling mechanism of the "short" BLUF proteins in the regulation of cyanobacterial phototaxis.

Life on earth relies upon photosynthesis, which consumes carbon dioxide and generates oxygen and carbohydrates. Photosynthesis is sustained by a dynamic environment within the plant cell involving numerous organelles with cytoplasmic streaming. Physiological studies of chloroplasts, mitochondria and peroxisomes show that these organelles actively communicate during photorespiration, a process by which by-products produced by photosynthesis are salvaged. Nevertheless, the mechanisms enabling efficient exchange of metabolites have not been clearly defined. We found that peroxisomes along chloroplasts changed shape from spherical to elliptical and their interaction area increased during photorespiration. We applied a recent femtosecond laser technology to analyse adhesion between the organelles inside palisade mesophyll cells of Arabidopsis leaves and succeeded in estimating their physical interactions under different environmental conditions. This is the first application of this estimation method within living cells. Our findings suggest that photosynthetic-dependent interactions play a critical role in ensuring efficient metabolite flow during photorespiration.