Elucidation of intramolecular and intermolecular signaling mechanisms in the plant blue light receptor

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K18559
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Plant molecular biology/Plant physiology
• Research Institution: Keio University
• Principal Investigator: Okajima Koji 慶應義塾大学, 理工学研究科(矢上), 特任助教 (20438245)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 光受容体 / フォトトロピン / 構造機能相関 / 植物環境応答

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Phototropin (phot) is a blue light receptor in Plant. To elucidate intramolecular and intermolecular signaling mechanism, biochemical and structural analyses of Arabidopsis phot prepared from E. coli were performed. Some amino acid residues involved in the light dependent regulation of kinase activity were found in the linker region, by the mutation analysis of phot1 LOV2-kinase (LOV2-STK). The mutant in the N-terminal lateral region in LOV2 (K475A) showed the light dependent aggregation and dissociation by small angle X-ray scattering. The substitution would prevent usual conformational changes between LOV2 and STK. The N-terminal in LOV2 and the linker is critical for intramolecular signaling in phot.

Free Research Field

光生物学