Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Roman Podolec, Kelvin Lau, Timothee B. Wagnon, Michael Hothorn, Roman Ulm
Summary: The study introduces a new mutant allele of the UVR8 gene, uvr8-17D, which results in weak constitutive photomorphogenesis and extreme UV-B responsiveness when overexpressed in plants. The UVR8(G101S) mutant, predominantly monomeric in vivo and inefficiently inactivated after UV-B activation, provides further insight into the mechanisms of UVR8 activation and inactivation. Additionally, the combination of G101S and W285A mutations in UVR8 leads to robust constitutive photomorphogenesis in plants.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Theresa Schneider, Yongjun Tan, Huan Li, Jonathan S. Fisher, Dapeng Zhang
Summary: By conducting computational analyses, the authors identified a new type of non-heme binding globin called photoglobin, which may act as a light sensor in complex prokaryotic signal transduction systems.
COMPUTATIONAL AND STRUCTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Biology
Daisuke Nakane, Gen Enomoto, Heike Baehre, Yuu Hirose, Annegret Wilde, Takayuki Nishizaka
Summary: This study successfully visualized type IV pilus-dependent cell movement in the rod-shaped thermophilic cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus vulcanus using optical microscopy, and revealed that the directional switching in phototaxis is mediated by three photoreceptors within a short time scale.
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Robert Ohlendorf, Andreas Moeglich
Summary: Optogenetic regulation of gene expression in bacteria has been achieved by using light-sensitive photoreceptors and genetic circuits. This approach allows precise and reversible control of gene expression in space and time. It has been successfully applied in microbial production, animal stimulation, and biomaterial generation. These applications demonstrate the maturity and potential of optogenetic approaches.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Weixiao Yuan Wahlgren, David Golonka, Sebastian Westenhoff, Andreas Moglich
Summary: Phytochrome photoreceptors play a crucial role in regulating plant development, growth, and physiology by responding to red and far-red light. This study focused on the full-length characterization of Arabidopsis thaliana phytochrome A (AtphyA) using cryo-electron microscopy, revealing a homodimeric head-to-head assembly and providing insights into the potential mechanisms of signal transduction in plant phytochromes. The findings suggest similarities in structure and signal transduction mechanisms between plant phytochromes and bacterial phytochromes, paving the way for future research on the structure, light response, and interactions of full-length phytochromes using cryo-EM.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Julia Dietler, Roman Schubert, Tobias G. A. Krafft, Simone Meiler, Stephanie Kainrath, Florian Richter, Kristian Schweimer, Michael Weyand, Harald Janovjak, Andreas Moeglich
Summary: Sensory photoreceptors can regulate the physiology, behavior, and development of organisms in response to light, making them useful in optogenetics for controlling diverse cellular processes. This study demonstrates that certain LOV modules can modulate protein expression by light, and some photoreceptors can also function as temperature sensors, potentially impacting their applications in optogenetics and biotechnology.
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Cornelia Boehm, Nikolina Todorovic, Marco Balasso, Geoffrey Gourinchas, Andreas Winkler
Summary: Protein dynamics are crucial for the catalytic function of enzymes, the interaction of protein complexes, and signal integration in regulatory proteins. In the context of multi-domain proteins involved in light-regulation of enzymatic effectors, the central role of conformational dynamics is well established, requiring a complex interplay of functional elements to maintain functionality.
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Panpan Zhu, Jingjin Xu, Yadong Wang, Chengtian Zhao
Summary: Research reveals that deletion of the ift74 gene in zebrafish results in ciliogenesis defects in multiple organs, with photoreceptor cell degeneration occurring at a slower pace compared to other ift-b mutants.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Elina Multamaki, Andres Garcia de Fuentes, Oleksii Sieryi, Alexander Bykov, Uwe Gerken, Americo Tavares Ranzani, Juergen Koehler, Igor Meglinski, Andreas Moeglich, Heikki Takala
Summary: In optogenetics, BphP photoreceptors control cellular processes by sensing red and farred light and regulating downstream gene expression. By reprogramming bacterial gene expression from blue-light to red-light control, pREDusk and pREDawn systems enable high spatial resolution and tissue penetration, providing red-light-regulated expression for diverse use cases in bacteria.
ACS SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lindsey A. Ebke, Satyabrata Sinha, Gayle J. T. Pauer, Stephanie A. Hagstrom
Summary: The study revealed that Tulp1 has two distinct interactomes in photoreceptor cells, binding to compartment-specific proteins in the inner segment and synaptic terminal, and playing a significant role in protein trafficking.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Review
Neurosciences
Federica Genovese, Johannes Reisert, Vladimir J. Kefalov
Summary: The past decades have seen significant progress in understanding the function of photoreceptors and olfactory sensory neurons. This progress has been driven by the combination of physiological experimental tools and genetic manipulations, which have allowed researchers to identify molecular players in sensory neuron transduction cascades, explore how properties impact stimulus detection and disease effects on vision and smell.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Julia Krischer, Sarah Koenig, Wolfram Weisheit, Maria Mittag, Claudia Buechel
Summary: The C-terminus of CryP affects the redox state of flavin, while BolA and ID42612 bind to CryP through different mechanisms and are influenced by the redox state of flavin.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2022)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Liliya Nazlamova, Suly Saray Villa Vasquez, Jenny Lord, Varshini Karthik, Man-Kim Cheung, Jorn Lakowski, Gabrielle Wheway
Summary: Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a common hereditary cause of blindness, and understanding its molecular mechanism is important for targeted treatment. This study used various experimental methods and data analysis to confirm that mutations in certain genes associated with RP can lead to defects in microtubules, centrosomes, and cilia in cells, triggering differential splicing of DNA damage response pathways. Additionally, the study identified the TTLL3 gene as a potential therapeutic target, as it plays a crucial role in the cilial tubulin glycylation process.
FRONTIERS IN GENETICS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mary Jo Cantoria, Elaheh Alizadeh, Janani Ravi, Reeba P. Varghese, Nawat Bunnag, Kelvin W. Pond, Arminja N. Kettenbach, Yashi Ahmed, Andrew L. Paek, John J. Tyson, Konstantin Doubrovinski, Ethan Lee, Curtis A. Thorne
Summary: In this study, it was found that the cellular response to Wnt ligands is proportional to their concentration. Positive feedback between the scaffold protein Axin and the kinase GSK3 resulted in bistable behavior of the destruction complex. Experimental evidence showed that the cellular concentration of beta-catenin exhibited an all-or-none response with sustained memory.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Anna Grochmal, Ben Woods, Lilia Milanesi, Manuel Perez-Soto, Salvador Tomas
Summary: Research on mimicking biological systems reveals that minimal environmental changes can trigger high avidity membrane receptor assembly, which can be modulated by weakly binding divalent ligands. Mathematical models and equations can predict the modulation intensity of the ligand-messenger on the ligand-receptor ON signal, providing valuable tools for studying membrane receptors in biological and biomimetic systems.
Article
Neurosciences
Ryan P. Silk, Hanagh R. Winter, Ouria Dkhissi-Benyahya, Carmella Evans -Molina, Alan W. Stitt, Vijay K. Tiwari, David A. Simpson, Eleni Beli
Summary: This study investigates whether diabetes affects the daily rhythm of gene expression in the retina. The results show that diabetic mice exhibited phase advancement in the expression of certain genes compared to non-diabetic mice. The study also identified oxygen-sensing mechanisms and HIF1alpha as potential upstream regulators. These findings provide important insights into the development of diabetic retinopathy.
Article
Neurosciences
Krishnamachari S. Prahalad, Daniel R. Coates
Summary: Visual stimuli presented around the time of a saccade can be perceived differently by the visual system, including a reduction in the harmful impact of flankers. This study investigated the effects of microsaccades on crowded stimuli placed 20 arc minutes from the center of gaze. The findings suggest two separate pre-saccadic benefits, one that regularizes the crowding zone and another that specifically benefits microsaccade targets surrounded by tangential flankers.
Article
Neurosciences
Chandrika Ravisankar, Christopher W. Tyler, Clifton M. Schor, Shrikant R. Bharadwaj
Summary: This study revealed that less than one-third of adults with normal binocular vision were able to successfully free-fuse random-dot image pairs and identify the embedded stereoscopic shapes. The successful participants showed a dissociation of vergence and accommodative responses, while the unsuccessful ones either exhibited strong vergence and accommodation or weak vergence and strong accommodation. Task performance of the unsuccessful cluster improved significantly with pharmacological paralysis of accommodation. A minority of participants also learned to dissociate one direction of their vergence and accommodation crosslinks with repeated free-fusion trials, optimizing their task performance.