title: Structure and function of plant photoreceptors.
abstract: Signaling photoreceptors use the information contained in the absorption of a photon to modulate biological activity in plants and a wide range of organisms. The fundamental-and as yet imperfectly answered-question is, how is this achieved at the molecular level? We adopt the perspective of biophysicists interested in light-dependent signal transduction in nature and the three-dimensional structures that underpin signaling. Six classes of photoreceptors are known: light-oxygen-voltage (LOV) sensors, xanthopsins, phytochromes, blue-light sensors using flavin adenine dinucleotide (BLUF), cryptochromes, and rhodopsins. All are water-soluble proteins except rhodopsins, which are integral membrane proteins; all are based on a modular architecture except cryptochromes and rhodopsins; and each displays a distinct, light-dependent chemical process based on the photochemistry of their nonprotein chromophore, such as isomerization about a double bond (xanthopsins, phytochromes, and rhodopsins), formation or rupture of a covalent bond (LOV sensors), or electron transfer (BLUF sensors and cryptochromes).
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. moeglich@uchicago.edu
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Möglich
authors.forename: Xiaojing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Rebecca A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Ayers
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moffat
mesh_terms: D008958:Models, Molecular; D010777:Photochemistry; D055519:Photoreceptors, Plant / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D055519:Photoreceptors, Plant