A phytochrome from the fern Adiantum with features of the putative photoreceptor NPH1

A phytochrome from the fern Adiantum with features of the putative photoreceptor NPH1

^*Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Minami-osawa 1-1, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan; ^†National Institute for Basic Biology, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan; ^‡Osborn Memorial Laboratories, Department of Biology, Yale University, 165 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06520-8104; and ^§Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616

Edited by Winslow R. Briggs, Carnegie Institute of Washington, Stanford, CA, and approved October 1, 1998 (received for review August 10, 1998)

Abstract

In plant photomorphogenesis, it is well accepted that the perception of red/far-red and blue light is mediated by distinct photoreceptor families, i.e., the phytochromes and blue-light photoreceptors, respectively. Here we describe the discovery of a photoreceptor gene from the fern Adiantum that encodes a protein with features of both phytochrome and NPH1, the putative blue-light receptor for second-positive phototropism in seed plants. The fusion of a functional photosensory domain of phytochrome with a nearly full-length NPH1 homolog suggests that this polypeptide could mediate both red/far-red and blue-light responses in Adiantum normally ascribed to distinct photoreceptors.

Footnotes

↵ ¶ To whom reprint requests should be addressed. e-mail: wada-masamitsu{at}c.metro-u.ac.jp.
This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the Proceedings Office.
Data deposition: The nucleotide and predicted amino acid sequence of the Adiantum PHY3 has been deposited with GenBank, DNA Database Japan, and European Molecular Biology Laboratory databases (accession no. AB012082).
ABBREVIATIONS:

RACE,

rapid amplification of cDNA ends;

PK,

protein kinase;

RT-PCR,

reverse transcription-PCR;

CRY,

cryptochrome;

AP,

poly(A)-complementary primer;

LOV,

light, oxygen, or voltage sensor