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VIVID is a flavoprotein and serves as a fungal blue light photoreceptor for photoadaptation
Author(s) -
Schwerdtfeger Carsten,
Linden Hartmut
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1093/emboj/cdg451
Subject(s) - blue light , neurospora , biology , flavin group , flavoprotein , neurospora crassa , mutant , biophysics , light intensity , botany , biochemistry , gene , optics , enzyme , physics
Blue light regulates many physiological and developmental processes in fungi. Most of the blue light responses in the ascomycete Neurospora crassa are dependent on the two blue light regulatory proteins White Collar (WC)‐1 and ‐2. WC‐1 has recently been shown to be the first fungal blue light photoreceptor. In the present study, we characterize the Neurospora protein VIVID. VIVID shows a partial sequence similarity with plant blue light photoreceptors. In addition, we found that VIVID non‐covalently binds a flavin chromophore. Upon illumination with blue light, VIVID undergoes a photocycle indicative of the formation of a flavin‐cysteinyl adduct. VVD is localized in the cytoplasm and is only present after light induction. A loss‐of‐function vvd mutant was insensitive to increases in light intensities. Furthermore, mutational analysis of the photoactive cysteine indicated that the formation of a flavin‐cysteinyl adduct is essential for VIVID functions in vivo . Our results show that VIVID is a second fungal blue light photoreceptor which enables Neurospora to perceive and respond to daily changes in light intensity.