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Light-induced electron transfer in a cryptochrome blue-light photoreceptor

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 10, pages 489–490 (2003)Cite this article

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Abstract

Cryptochromes are flavoproteins implicated in multiple blue light–dependent signaling pathways regulating, for example, photomorphogenesis in plants or circadian clocks in animals. Using transient absorption spectroscopy, it is demonstrated that the primary light reactions in isolated Arabidopsis thaliana cryptochrome-1 involve intraprotein electron transfer from tryptophan and tyrosine residues to the excited flavin adenine dinucleotide cofactor.

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Figure 1: Light-induced electron transfer in Atcry1.
Figure 2: Scheme of light-induced reactions in Atcry1.

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  • 19 May 2003

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Acknowledgements

We thank J.-P. Bouly for helpful discussions. This work was supported in part by a fellowship award from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (B.G.) and by a PCV grant from CNRS. M.A. is supported by CNRS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Paris VI, Tour 53 E 5, Casier 156, 4, Place Jussieu, Paris, 75252 Cedex 05, France

    Baldissera Giovani & Margaret Ahmad

  2. Service de Bioénergétique, CEA, and CNRS URA 2096, CEA/Saclay, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France

    Baldissera Giovani, Martin Byrdin & Klaus Brettel

  3. Penn State University, 25 Yearsley Mill Road, Media, 19063, Pennsylvania, USA

    Margaret Ahmad

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  1. Baldissera Giovani
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  2. Martin Byrdin
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  4. Klaus Brettel
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Correspondence to Klaus Brettel.

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Giovani, B., Byrdin, M., Ahmad, M. et al. Light-induced electron transfer in a cryptochrome blue-light photoreceptor. Nat Struct Mol Biol 10, 489–490 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb933

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