The Light-Oxygen-Voltage domain family of photoreceptors mediates blue-light regulation of diverse signaling pathways. One key aspect of LOV domain photoreceptors is a large variation in photo cycle kinetics that is believed to dictate sensitivity to the quantity of environmental light. In eukaryotes, these fluence-dependent responses enable detection of day-length and prediction of diurnal stress pathways. Although circadian clocks do not exist in most bacteria, blue-light induces similar stress responses that are mediated by LOV domain containing photoreceptors. We have identified several bacterial homologs of fungal circadian clock photoreceptors that share key regulatory elements. Chemical and structural characterization of these proteins indicate a potential evolutionarily conserved mechanism of detecting oxidative stress that may be an ancestral function of LOV domain containing photoreceptors. Herein, we outline chemical characterization of bacterial LOV proteins that reveal unique aspects of LOV function that may have implications to our understanding of stress response pathways in fungi and plants.

Chemical characterization of novel bacterial LOV-domain photoreceptors

249th National Meeting (2015)

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