Authors

Yuko Makita*, Shigekatu Suzuki*, Keiji Fushimi*, Setsuko Shimada*, Aya Suehisa, Manami Hirata, Tomoko Kuriyama, Yukio Kurihara, Hidefumi Hamasaki, Emiko Okubo-Kurihara, Kazutoshi Yoshitake, Tsuyoshi Watanabe, Masaaki Sakuta, Takashi Gojobori, Tomoko Sakami, Rei Narikawa, Haruyo Yamaguchi, Masanobu Kawachi, Minami Matsui *

Abstract

Photoreceptors are conserved in green algae to land plants and regulate various developmental stages. In the ocean, blue light penetrates deeper than red light, and blue-light sensing is key to adapting to marine environments. Here, a search for blue-light photoreceptors in the marine metagenome uncover a chimeric gene composed of a phytochrome and a cryptochrome (Dualchrome1, DUC1) in a prasinophyte, Pycnococcus provasolii. DUC1 detects light within the orange/far-red and blue spectra, and acts as a dual photoreceptor. Analyses of its genome reveal the possible mechanisms of light adaptation. Genes for the light-harvesting complex (LHC) are duplicated and transcriptionally regulated under monochromatic orange/blue light, suggesting P. provasolii has acquired environmental adaptability to a wide range of light spectra and intensities

Paper Information

Journal
: Nature Communications
DOI
: 10.1038/s41467-021-23741-5
: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23741-5