title: Phytochrome structure and photochemistry: recent advances toward a complete molecular picture.
abstract: Phytochromes are nature's primary photoreceptors dedicated to detecting the red and far-red regions of the visible light spectrum, a region also essential for photosynthesis and thus crucial to the survival of plants and other photosynthetic organisms. Given their roles in measuring competition and diurnal/seasonal light fluctuations, understanding how phytochromes work at the molecular level would greatly aid in engineering crop plants better suited to specific agricultural settings. Recently, scientists have determined the three-dimensional structures of prokaryotic phytochromes, which now provide clues as to how these modular photoreceptors might work at the atomic level. The models point toward a largely unifying mechanism whereby novel knot, hairpin, and dimeric interfaces transduce photoreversible bilin isomerization into protein conformational changes that alter signal output.
authors: Department of Biological Sciences, 3209 North Maryland Avenue, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA. ulijasz@uwm.edu
authors: Andrew T
authors: AT
authors: Ulijasz
authors: Richard D
authors: RD
authors: Vierstra
mesh_terms: D008027:Light; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015394:Molecular Structure; D055668:Photochemical Processes; D055519:Photoreceptors, Plant / Q000378:metabolism*; D010834:Phytochrome / Q000737:chemistry*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D055519:Photoreceptors, Plant; D010834:Phytochrome