The photochemistry of novel flavin-binding photoreceptors

摘要

Blue-light sensing using FAD (BLUF) domains are a distinct family of flavin-binding photoreceptors that show no significant relationship to other sensor proteins in sequence or structure. The BLUF domain was first discovered as the N-terminal part of the flavoprotein AppA from Rhodobacter (Rb.) sphaeroides. AppA is a two-component protein that can sense blue light at its N-terminal domain, and oxygen tension at its cysteine-rich C-terminal domain, and was shown to control photosynthesis gene expression in response to high-intensity blue light irradiation and variation of the oxygen tension.Single BLUF domains which have been characterized include Slr1694 from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC6803, T110078 from Thermosynechococcus elongatus, and BIrB from Rhodobacter sphaeroides 151.