Plants contain several types of specialized light-sensitive proteins that measure light by changing shape upon light absorption. Chief among these are the phytochromes.
Plants & Animals
May 25, 2021
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(PhysOrg.com) -- When the first warm rays of springtime sunshine trigger a burst of new plant growth, it's almost as if someone flicked a switch to turn on the greenery and unleash a floral profusion of color. Opening a window ...
Biotechnology
May 31, 2010
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of California, San Diego - led by 2008 Nobel-Prize winner Roger Tsien, PhD - have shown that bacterial proteins called phytochromes can be engineered into infrared-fluorescent ...
Biochemistry
May 7, 2009
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The seeds of a plant are relatively well protected against harmful environmental influences, while a seedling is very vulnerable. Therefore, plants in the early stage of development must closely control their seed germination: ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 30, 2022
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89
Black rot disease in cabbages, radishes and related cruciferous crops may have disastrous consequences for the yield and production of marketable plants. The bacterium Xanthomonas campestris is the major cause of black rot ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 26, 2021
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85
Sunlight influences an array of biochemical processes in plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. In numerous organisms, phytochromes—a special class of photoreceptors—absorb red or far-red light and transform it into signals ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Aug 20, 2021
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202
A protein called phytochrome B, which can sense light and temperature, triggers plant growth and controls flowering time. How it does so is not fully understood.
Plants & Animals
Apr 4, 2020
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Scientists have revealed intricate structural changes in plants, fungi and bacteria in response to light, according to a new study published today in the open-access journal eLife.
Biochemistry
Mar 31, 2020
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Light provides the energy that plants and other photosynthetic organisms need to grow, which ultimately yields the metabolites that feed all other organisms on the planet. Plants also rely on light cues for developing their ...
Biotechnology
Dec 17, 2019
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Researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin have demonstrated on a molecular level how a specific protein allows light signals to be converted into cellular information. Their findings have broadened the understanding ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 4, 2018
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62
Phytochrome is a photoreceptor, a pigment that plants use to detect light. It is sensitive to light in the red and far-red region of the visible spectrum. Many flowering plants use it to regulate the time of flowering based on the length of day and night (photoperiodism) and to set circadian rhythms. It also regulates other responses including the germination of seeds (photoblasty), elongation of seedlings, the size, shape and number of leaves, the synthesis of chlorophyll, and the straightening of the epicotyl or hypocotyl hook of dicot seedlings. It is found in the leaves of most plants.
Biochemically, phytochrome is a protein with a bilin chromophore.
Phytochrome has been found in most plants including all higher plants; very similar molecules have been found in several bacteria. A fragment of a bacterial phytochrome now has a solved three-dimensional protein structure.
Other plant photoreceptors include cryptochromes and phototropins, which are sensitive to light in the blue and ultra-violet regions of the spectrum.
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