title: A complex photoreceptive structure in the cyanobacterium Leptolyngbya sp.
abstract: Among the terrestrial epilithic cyanobacteria isolated from Roman hypogea at extremely low light intensity, a non-heterocystous strain, belonging to the genus Leptolyngbya, showed a marked photobehavior. These red cyanobacteria possess an orange spot at the tip of the apical cell. Micro-spectrophotometric analysis of this tip showed an absorption spectrum with two bands, centered at 456 and 504 nm, respectively. Experiments on photo-orientation impairment of these cells, and micro-spectrophotometric analysis of the tip of impaired trichomes showed that a rhodopsin-like protein might be present in this structure. All these data could support the hypothesis of the presence of a complex photoreceptive system in this prokaryote.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Albertano
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barsanti
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Passarelli
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gualtieri
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008027:Light; D015591:Microspectrophotometry; D020283:Photoreceptors, Microbial / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D020283:Photoreceptors, Microbial