title: In the Limelight: Photoreceptors in Cyanobacteria.
abstract: Certain cyanobacteria look green if grown in red light and vice versa. This dramatic color change, called complementary chromatic adaptation (CCA), is caused by alterations of the major colored light-harvesting proteins. A major controller of CCA is the cyanobacteriochrome (CBCR) RcaE, a red-green reversible photoreceptor that triggers a complex signal transduction pathway. Now, a new study demonstrates that CCA is also modulated by DpxA, a CBCR that senses yellow and teal (greenish blue) light. DpxA acts to expand the range of wavelengths that can impact CCA, by fine-tuning the process. This dual control of CCA might positively impact the fitness of cells growing in the shade of competing algae or in a water column where light levels and spectral quality change gradually with depth. This discovery adds to the growing number of light-responsive phenomena controlled by multiple CBCRs. Furthermore, the diverse CBCRs which are exclusively found in cyanobacteria have significant biotechnological potential.
authors.affiliation: Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, California, USA bhaya@carnegiescience.edu.
authors.forename: Devaki
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bhaya
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D003116:Color; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008027:Light; D020283:Photoreceptors, Microbial; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000528:radiation effects
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D020283:Photoreceptors, Microbial