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Lights on and action! Controlling microbial gene expression by light

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Abstract

Light-mediated control of gene expression and thus of any protein function and metabolic process in living microbes is a rapidly developing field of research in the areas of functional genomics, systems biology, and biotechnology. The unique physical properties of the environmental factor light allow for an independent photocontrol of various microbial processes in a noninvasive and spatiotemporal fashion. This mini review describes recently developed strategies to generate photo-sensitive expression systems in bacteria and yeast. Naturally occurring and artificial photoswitches consisting of light-sensitive input domains derived from different photoreceptors and regulatory output domains are presented and individual properties of light-controlled expression systems are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Molecular Enzyme Technology, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Stetternicher Forst, 52426, Jülich, Germany

    Thomas Drepper, Ulrich Krauss & Karl-Erich Jaeger

  2. Institute for Bioorganic Chemistry, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Stetternicher Forst, 52426, Jülich, Germany

    Sonja Meyer zu Berstenhorst & Jörg Pietruszka

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  1. Thomas Drepper
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  2. Ulrich Krauss
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  3. Sonja Meyer zu Berstenhorst
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  5. Karl-Erich Jaeger
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Correspondence to Thomas Drepper.

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Drepper, T., Krauss, U., Meyer zu Berstenhorst, S. et al. Lights on and action! Controlling microbial gene expression by light. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 90, 23–40 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-011-3141-6

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