Search results for "CRYPTOCHROME"
showing 9 items of 19 documents
Interaction of Circadian Clock Proteins CRY1 and PER2 Is Modulated by Zinc Binding and Disulfide Bond Formation
2014
SummaryPeriod (PER) proteins are essential components of the mammalian circadian clock. They form complexes with cryptochromes (CRY), which negatively regulate CLOCK/BMAL1-dependent transactivation of clock and clock-controlled genes. To define the roles of mammalian CRY/PER complexes in the circadian clock, we have determined the crystal structure of a complex comprising the photolyase homology region of mouse CRY1 (mCRY1) and a C-terminal mouse PER2 (mPER2) fragment. mPER2 winds around the helical mCRY1 domain covering the binding sites of FBXL3 and CLOCK/BMAL1, but not the FAD binding pocket. Our structure revealed an unexpected zinc ion in one interface, which stabilizes mCRY1-mPER2 int…
Cryptochrome in Sponges: A Key Molecule Linking Photoreception with Phototransduction
2013
Sponges (phylum: Porifera) react to external light or mechanical signals with contractile or metabolic reactions and are devoid of any nervous or muscular system. Furthermore, elements of a photoreception/phototransduction system exist in those animals. Recently, a cryptochrome-based photoreceptor system has been discovered in the demosponge. The assumption that in sponges the siliceous skeleton acts as a substitution for the lack of a nervous system and allows light signals to be transmitted through its glass fiber network is supported by the findings that the first spicules are efficient light waveguides and the second sponges have the enzymatic machinery for the generation of light. Now…
Cryptochrome-1 expression: a new prognostic marker in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia
2008
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is an adult-onset leukemia with a heterogeneous clinical behavior. When chronic lymphocytic leukemia cases were divided on the basis of IgVH mutational status, widely differing clinical courses were revealed. Since IgVH sequencing is difficult to perform in a routine diagnostic laboratory, finding a surrogate for IgVH mutational status seems an important priority. In the present study, we proposed the use of Cryptochrome- 1 as a new prognostic marker in early-stage chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Seventy patients (Binet stage A, without treatment) were included in the study. We correlated Cryptochrome-1 mRNA with well established prognostic markers such as IgVH mu…
A cryptochrome-based photosensory system in the siliceous sponge Suberites domuncula (Demospongiae)
2010
Based on the light-reactive behavior of siliceous sponges, their intriguing quartz glass-based spicular system and the existence of a light-generating luciferase [Muller WEG et al. (2009) Cell Mol Life Sci 66, 537–552], a protein potentially involved in light reception has been identified, cloned and recombinantly expressed from the demosponge Suberites domuncula. Its sequence displays two domains characteristic of cryptochrome, the N-terminal photolyase-related region and the C-terminal FAD-binding domain. The expression level of S. domuncula cryptochrome depends on animal’s exposure to light and is highest in tissue regions rich in siliceous spicules; in the dark, no cryptochrome transcri…
Two light sensors decode moonlight versus sunlight to adjust a plastic circadian/circalunidian clock to moon phase
2021
AbstractMany species synchronize their physiology and behavior to specific hours. It is commonly assumed that sunlight acts as the main entrainment signal for ~24h clocks. However, the moon provides similarly regular time information, and increasingly studies report correlations between diel behavior and lunidian cycles. Yet, mechanistic insight into the possible influences of the moon on ~24hr timers is scarce.We studiedPlatynereis dumeriliiand uncover that the moon, besides its role in monthly timing, also schedules the exact hour of nocturnal swarming onset to the nights’ darkest times. Moonlight adjusts a plastic clock, exhibiting <24h (moonlit) or >24h (no moon) periodicity. Abun…
Metazoan Circadian Rhythm: Toward an Understanding of a Light-Based Zeitgeber in Sponges
2013
In all eukaryotes, the 24-h periodicity in the environment contributed to the evolution of the molecular circadian clock. We studied some elements of a postulated circadian clock circuit in the lowest metazoans, the siliceous sponges. First, we identified in the demosponge Suberites domuncula the enzyme luciferase that generates photons. Then (most likely), the photons generated by luciferase are transmitted via the biosilica glass skeleton of the sponges and are finally harvested by cryptochrome in the same individual; hence, cryptochrome is acting as a photosensor. This information-transduction system, generation of light (luciferase), photon transmission (through the siliceous spicules),…
Light induces expression of a dehydrin-encoding gene during seedling de-etiolation in sunflower (Helianthus annus L.)
2007
The effects of light quality on the expression of a sunflower dehydrin-encoding gene, HaDhn1, were studied during seedling de-etiolation. Seeds were germinated in the dark and, after 5 days, seedlings were maintained well watered and de-etiolated under different lights for 3, 6, 12, and 24h. Exposure to white light stimulated HaDhn1 transcript accumulation in the cotyledons of these seedlings, contrary to seedlings grown in the dark. HaDhn1 transcripts increased also treating plantlets with monochromatic lights, especially red light. The increase of HaDhn1 transcripts is provoked by the formation of the active form of phytochrome. Further experiments, performed saturating active phytochrome…
Mapping and quantification of cryptochrome expression in the brain of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum.
2021
Aphids are paradigmatic photoperiodic animals often used to study the role of the circadian clock in the seasonal response. Previously, we described some elements of the circadian clock core (genes period and timeless) and output (melatonin, AANATs and PTTH) that could have a role in the regulation of the aphid seasonal response. More recently we identified two opsins (C-ops and SWO4) as candidate input photoperiodic receptors. In the present report, we focus on the study of cryptochromes (cry) as photoreceptors of the circadian clock and discuss their involvement in the seasonal response. We analyze the expression of cry1 and cry2 genes in a circadian and seasonal context, and map their ex…
Transcriptional study of photoperiodic response in aphids and characterization of candidate photoperiodic photoreceptors
2020
Acyrthosiphon pisum es una especie de pulgón altamente estacional. Durante la estación favorable, únicamente se producen hembras partenogenéticas vivíparas (virginóparas). En otoño, cuando hay menos luz (el fotoperiodo es más corto), A. pisum percibe la diferencia y las virginóparas paren machos y luego hembras sexuadas (ovíparas). Tras aparearse, las ovíparas ponen huevos que resisten el invierno y eclosionan en primavera, reiniciando el ciclo. Algunos mutantes que ocurren de forma natural no responden al fotoperiodo y se reproducen asexualmente durante todo el año. Se denominan anholocíclicos en contraposición a los holocíclicos, que tienen fase sexual. Se desconocen los mecanismos molecu…