The News of Us
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Science and Technology
  • Health
  • Subscribe Us
No Result
View All Result
The News of Us
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Science and Technology
  • Health
  • Subscribe Us
No Result
View All Result
The News of Us
No Result
View All Result

Uncovering how plants see blue light

admin by admin
January 5, 2021
in Uncategorized

Plants can perceive and react to light across a wide spectrum. New research from Prof. Nitzan Shabek’s laboratory in the Department of Plant Biology, College of Biological Sciences shows how plants can respond to blue light in particular.

“Plants can see much better than we can,” Shabek said.

Plants don’t have dedicated light-detecting organs, like our eyes. They do have a variety of dedicated receptors that can sense almost every single wavelength. One such are the blue light photoreceptors called cryptochromes. When the cryptochrome detects an incoming photon, it reacts in a way that triggers a unique physiological response.

Cryptochromes probably appeared billions of years ago with the first living bacteria and they are very similar across bacteria, plants and animals. We have cryptochromes in our own eyes, where they are involved in maintaining our circadian clock. In plants, cryptochromes govern a variety of critical processes including seed germination, flowering time and entrainment of the circadian clock. However, the photochemistry, regulation, and light-induced structural changes remain unclear.

In a new study, published Jan. 4 in Nature Communications Biology, Shabek’s lab determined the crystal structure of part of the blue-light receptor, cryptochrome-2, in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. They found that the light-detecting part of the molecule changes its structure when it reacts with light particles, going from a single unit to a structure made of four units linked together, or tetramer.

Rearrangement leads to gene activation

“This rearrangement process, called photo-induced oligomerization, is also very intriguing because certain elements within the protein undergo changes when exposed to blue light. Our molecular structure suggests that these light-induced changes release transcriptional regulators that control expression of specific genes in plants,” Shabek said.

The researchers were able to work out the structure of cryptochrome-2 with the aid of the Advanced Light Source X-ray facility at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The Shabek lab broadly studies how plants sense their environment from the molecular to the organismal levels.

“This work is part of our long-term goals to understand sensing mechanisms in plants. We are interested in hormone perceptions as well as light signaling pathways,” Shabek said.

The team first solved the crystal structure of the blue light receptor two years ago, using X-ray crystallography and biochemical approaches. With recent advances in plant sciences and structural biology, they were able to update the model and reveal the missing piece of the puzzle.

[Read More…]

Previous Post

The pandemic stranded this couple 4,780 miles apart. That’s when they knew they had to be together for good.

Next Post

Covaxin: Concern over ‘rushed’ approval for India Covid jab

Related Posts

Uncategorized

World stocks near record highs as China, U.S. data back global recovery hopes

Uncategorized

Why are so many babies dying of Covid-19 in Brazil?

Uncategorized

Oil steady near four-week highs on demand revival

Uncategorized

China’s Alibaba hit with record $2.75 billion antitrust fine

Uncategorized

White House convening summit with top execs on chip shortage

Uncategorized

Inside the U.S. government’s new $30 million effort to combat pandemic profiteering

Next Post

Covaxin: Concern over 'rushed' approval for India Covid jab

Follow us for latest Business News | Political News | Science & Technology News | Health News.

Subscribe Us

By clicking subscribe, I authorize: (1) The News Of Us to use and share my information in accordance with its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and (2) The News Of Us or third-party companies, including The News Of Us’s business partners, to contact me by email with offers for goods and services at the email address provided. Please note that the information you have provided to us may be supplemented with additional information obtained from other sources.

© 2021 The News of Us, - All Rights Reserved.

  • Subscribe Us
  • Contact Us
  • Unsubscribe
  • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Science and Technology
  • Health
  • Subscribe Us

© 2021 The News of Us, - All Rights Reserved.