Search results for "phytochrome"
showing 4 items of 44 documents
Heat-sensitive UV-Vis measurements for Phytochrome
2016
Fytokromit ovat punaista valoa aistivia proteiineja, jotka säätelevät suurta joukkoa solun toimintoja kasvi-, bakteeri- ja sienisoluissa. Nämä valoaktiiviset proteiinit muuntavat konformaatiotaan palautuvasti aktiivisen (Pfr) ja inaktiivisen (Pr) tilan välillä. Fytokromien aminohappojen väliset heikot vuorovaikutukset - etenkin vetysidokset - vaikuttavat lopulta laskostumiseen ja proteiinin lämpöstabiiliuteen. Fytokromit esiintyvät homodimeerisinä rakenteina, joiden monomeerit koostuvat useista domeeneista. Nämä jakautuvat N- terminaaliseen valosensitiiviseen moduuliin (PSM) ja C-terminaaliseen OutPut moduliin (OPM). PSM koostuu kolmesta domeenista (PAS-GAF ja PHY). Tässä työssä tutkittiin …
Protonation of the Biliverdin IXα Chromophore in the Red and Far-Red Photoactive States of Bacteriophytochrome
2019
The tetrapyrrole chromophore biliverdin IXα (BV) in the bacteriophytochrome from Deinococcus radiodurans (DrBphP) is usually assumed to be fully protonated, but this assumption has not been systematically validated by experiments or extensive computations. Here, we use force field molecular dynamics simulations and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations with density functional theory and XMCQDPT2 methods to investigate the effect of the five most probable protonation forms of BV on structural stability, binding pocket interactions, and absorption spectra in the two photochromic states of DrBphP. While agreement with X-ray structural data and measured UV/vis spectra suggest that …
Red Light Optogenetics in Neuroscience
2022
Optogenetics, a field concentrating on controlling cellular functions by means of light-activated proteins, has shown tremendous potential in neuroscience. It possesses superior spatiotemporal resolution compared to the surgical, electrical, and pharmacological methods traditionally used in studying brain function. A multitude of optogenetic tools for neuroscience have been created that, for example, enable the control of action potential generation via light-activated ion channels. Other optogenetic proteins have been used in the brain, for example, to control long-term potentiation or to ablate specific subtypes of neurons. In in vivo applications, however, the majority of optogenetic too…
The Interconnecting Hairpin Extension "Arm": An Essential Allosteric Element of Phytochrome Activity
2023
In red-light sensing phytochromes, isomerization of the bilin chromophore triggers structural and dynamic changes across multiple domains, ultimately leading to control of the output module (OPM) activity. In between, a hairpin structure, "arm", extends from an interconnecting domain to the chromophore region. Here, by removing this protein segment in a bacteriophytochrome from Deinococcus radiodurans (DrBphP), we show that the arm is crucial for signal transduction. Crystallographic, spectroscopic, and biochemical data indicate that this variant maintains the properties of DrBphP in the resting state. Spectroscopic data also reveal that the armless systems maintain the ability to respond t…