Photoregulation in prokaryotes
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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Observation of Photobehavior in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Published on: May 6, 2022
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, 929 E. 57th Street, Gordon Center for Integrative Science W125, Chicago, IL 60637, United States.
Abstract:
The spectroscopic identification of sensory rhodopsin I by Bogomolni and Spudich in 1982 provided a molecular link between the light environment and phototaxis in Halobacterium salinarum, and thus laid the foundation for the study of signal transducing photosensors in prokaryotes. In recent years, a number of new prokaryotic photosensory receptors have been discovered across a broad range of taxa, including dozens in chemotrophic species. Among these photoreceptors are new classes of rhodopsins, BLUF-domain proteins, bacteriophytochromes, cryptochromes, and LOV-family photosensors. Genetic and biochemical analyses of these receptors have demonstrated that they can regulate processes ranging from photosynthetic pigment biosynthesis to virulence.
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