title: Cloning of a cryptochrome homologue from the holoparasitic plant Orobanche minor Sm.
abstract: Orobanche minor is a non-photosynthetic root holoparasitic plant. Although it is known that photosynthesis-related genes are inactivated or have been eliminated from the plastid genomes of holoparasites, little is known about the alterations in their genes involved in the signaling networks by which light regulates photosynthesis. Cryptochromes (crys), which are blue-light receptors, appear to control both photosynthesis-related and non-photosynthetic responses to light in higher plants. Because we are interested in to what extent a cry-mediated light signaling network remains in the holoparasites, we cloned CRY homologous cDNA from O. minor (OmCRY1) and used real-time RT-PCR to compare its expression under natural daylight and darkness. We found that the OmCRY1 has a high degree of homology with CRY1 s from photosynthetic plants. Expression of the OmCRY1 gene was higher in plants grown in the dark than that in the plants grown under natural daylight. This is the first report of the gene expression of a blue-light receptor in non-photosynthetic plants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. okazawa@bio.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Okazawa
authors.forename: Chitra
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Trakulnaleamsai
authors.forename: Hiroya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hiramatsu
authors.forename: Ei'ichiro
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fukusaki
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoneyama
authors.forename: Yasutomo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
mesh_terms: D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D056931:Cryptochromes; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D003624:Darkness; D005420:Flavoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000528:radiation effects; D015723:Gene Library; D008027:Light; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D031672:Orobanche / Q000235:genetics*; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D056931:Cryptochromes; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D005420:Flavoproteins; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins