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Novel cyanobacteriochrome photoreceptor with the second Cys residue showing atypical orange/blue reversible photoconversion

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Abstract

Cyanobacteriochromes (CBCRs) are cyanobacterial linear tetrapyrrole-binding photoreceptors distantly related to phytochromes. Only the GAF domain is needed for chromophore incorporation and proper photoconversion of the CBCRs. Most CBCR GAF domains possess the canonical Cys residue stably ligating to the chromophore. DXCF-type CBCR GAF domains also possess a second Cys residue within the DXCF motif. This second Cys residue reversibly ligates to the C10 of the chromophore. The Cys adduct formation is mostly observed for the dark-adapted state but not for the photoproduct state. In this study, we discovered novel CBCR GAF domains with a DXCI motif instead of the DXCF motif. Since these CBCR GAF domains are categorized into two subfamilies (DXCI-1 and DXCI-2), the GAF domains from each subfamily were analyzed. Although the CBCR GAF domain belonging to the DXCI-2 subfamily showed orange/green reversible photoconversion without transient Cys ligation, the CBCR GAF domain belonging to the DXCI-1 subfamily showed reversible photoconversion between an orange-absorbing dark-adapted state and a blue-absorbing photoproduct state. This indicates that the second Cys residue is covalently bound to the C10 of the chromophore in the photoproduct state but not in the dark-adapted state. Since the covalent bond formation in the photoproduct state is atypical, site-directed mutagenesis was conducted to understand the molecular mechanism of this GAF domain. The Ile residue within the DXCI motif may be key for covalent bond formation in the photoproduct state.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by JST, CREST (JPM-JCR1653 to R.N.), by JSPS, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (22H02587 to R.N.), by the establishment of university fellowships toward the creation of science technology innovation (JPMJFS2139 to H.H.), and by TMU research fund for young scientists of the Tokyo Metropolitan University (to R.N.). The authors would like to appreciate Enago (www.enago.jp) for the English language review.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1 Minami-Ohsawa, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan

    Hiroki Hoshino & Rei Narikawa

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  1. Hiroki Hoshino
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  2. Rei Narikawa
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Correspondence to Rei Narikawa.

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This publication is dedicated to Prof. Silvia E. Braslavsky, a pioneer in photobiology and photobiophysics, on the occasion of her 80th birthday.

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Hoshino, H., Narikawa, R. Novel cyanobacteriochrome photoreceptor with the second Cys residue showing atypical orange/blue reversible photoconversion. Photochem Photobiol Sci 22, 251–261 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43630-022-00310-3

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