FOR 526:  Blue-light Sensitive Photoreceptors

• Subject Area: Biology
• Term: from 2004 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5470629

The research and analysis of processes in photosynthesis and sensory photoreceptors has a long-standing tradition in Germany. This includes fundamental experiments about early reactions of "green" photosynthesis (including ultrafast photophysics), crystal structures of reaction centers and light harvesting complexes, and countless spectroscopic contributions to the understanding of charge separation and electron transmission. German researchers contributed to the discovery and detailed studies of bacteriorhodopsin and related proteins, and added major results to the analysis of the photochemical processes of phytochrome and rhodopsin-mediated signalling processes.
However, blue light receptors were discovered on a molecular level by the groups of Tony Cashmore (Cryptochrome), Winslow Briggs (Phototropin) and Gromelsky/Kaplan (Appa) in the United States of America. All three photoreceptor prototypes have been studied "in vivo" to a certain extent, but the reaction pathways for the formation of the signalling states (and the corresponding desactivation processes) remain to be discovered.
Since the close cooperation between biologists, spectroscopists and crystallographers was so successful in the case of photosynthesis and retinal-based photoreceptors, it appeared - according to the current state of the art - appropriate to establish a research group, which is able to uncover elementary photoreactions of flavin-based ("blue-light" sensitive) photoreceptors. This is particularly favourable in Germany where an appropriate expertise has grown during the recent years that might allow adding significant results to this highly competitive and internationally investigated research area.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• Biochemical and spectroscopic characterization of blue light receptors with LOV and BLUF-domain-type chromophores from microalgae and purple bacteria (Applicants Hegemann, Peter ;  Schlichting, Ilme )
• Biochemical and spectroscopic characterization of three blue light receptors with LOV and BLUF-domain-type chromophores (Applicant Schlichting, Ilme )
• Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy on Flavin Cofactors in Blue-Light Receptors (Applicant Bittl, Robert )
• Elucidation of the mechanism of blue-light reception by vibrational spectroscopy (Applicant Heberle, Joachim )
• Functional and structural characterization of bacterial blue-light sensitive photoreceptors (Applicant Gärtner, Wolfgang )
• Isolation of Drosophila and Mouse Cryptochromes for Structural, Biochemical and Spectroscopic Investigations (Applicant Wolf, Eva )
• Simulation of the light-induced conformational dynamics in the AppA BLUF domain (Applicant Tavan, Paul )
• Structural and functional relationships of plant cryptochromes (Applicant Batschauer, Alfred )
• Time-resolved spectroscopic characterization of blue-light photo-receptors (Applicants Dick, Bernhard ;  Penzkofer, Alfons )
• Ultrafast time-resolved laser-spectroscopic characterization of flavins in blue-light photo-receptors (Applicant Penzkofer, Alfons )
• Zentralprojekt (Applicant Hegemann, Peter )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Peter Hegemann