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Distribution and phylogeny of the blue light receptors aureochromes in eukaryotes

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Abstract

The new type blue light (BL) receptor aureochrome (AUREO) was recently discovered in a stramenopile alga, Vaucheria (Takahashi et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104(49):19625–19630, 2007). AUREO has a bZIP (basic region/leucine zipper) and BL-sensing light-oxygen-voltage (LOV) domain and functions as a BL-activated transcription factor. It mediates BL-induced branching and regulates the development of the sex organ in V. frigida. Although AUREO sequences have previously been found in Fucus and some diatoms, here we report that AUREO orthologs are commonly conserved in photosynthetic stramenopiles. Five AUREO orthologs were isolated from three stramenopile genera (Fucus, Ochromonas, and Chattonella). By BLAST search, several AUREO sequences were also detected in genomes in Aureococcus anophagefferens (Pelagophyceae). However, AUREO was not found in heterotrophic stramenopiles or in closely related phyla, such as haptophytes and cryptophytes, or in green plants. Stramenopiles do not possess phototropin, the well-known BL receptor for phototropism of green plants. From comparative analysis of LOV domains, together with kinship analysis of AUREO bZIP domains, AUREO can be regarded as the BL receptor specific to phototrophic stramenopiles. The evolution of AUREO and the phylogeny of LOV domains in stramenopiles and green plants are discussed.

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Abbreviations

AUREO:

Aureochrome

BL:

Blue light

bZIP:

Basic region/leucine zipper

LOV:

Light-oxygen-voltage

NPH:

Nonphototropic hypocotyl

PAS:

Per-ARNT-Sim

PHOT:

Phototropin

VVD:

Vivid

WC-1:

White collar-1

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Akiko Yokoyama (Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan) for helpful advice in construction of phylogenetic trees. We are also grateful to Dr. Ian Gleadall (Tohoku Bunka Gakuen University, Sendai, Japan) for his critical comments on the manuscript. This work was partially supported by Ministry of Education, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan Grant #17084001 (to H.K.), and by Research Fellowships of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for Young Scientists (to M.I.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan

    Mié Ishikawa, Fumio Takahashi & Hironao Kataoka

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Hisayoshi Nozaki

  3. Muroran Marine Station, Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University, Muroran, 051-0003, Japan

    Chikako Nagasato & Taizo Motomura

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  1. Mié Ishikawa
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  2. Fumio Takahashi
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Correspondence to Mié Ishikawa.

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Ishikawa, M., Takahashi, F., Nozaki, H. et al. Distribution and phylogeny of the blue light receptors aureochromes in eukaryotes. Planta 230, 543–552 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-009-0967-6

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