Download MendeleyA marine cryptochrome with an inverse photo-oligomerization mechanism.
Vu, H.H., Behrmann, H., Hanic, M., Jeyasankar, G., Krishnan, S., Dannecker, D., Hammer, C., Gunkel, M., Solov'yov, I.A., Wolf, E., Behrmann, E.(2023) Nat Commun 14: 6918-6918
- PubMed: 37903809
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42708-2
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:
8P4X - PubMed Abstract:
Cryptochromes (CRYs) are a structurally conserved but functionally diverse family of proteins that can confer unique sensory properties to organisms. In the marine bristle worm Platynereis dumerilii, its light receptive cryptochrome L-CRY (PdLCry) allows the animal to discriminate between sunlight and moonlight, an important requirement for synchronizing its lunar cycle-dependent mass spawning. Using cryo-electron microscopy, we show that in the dark, PdLCry adopts a dimer arrangement observed neither in plant nor insect CRYs. Intense illumination disassembles the dimer into monomers. Structural and functional data suggest a mechanistic coupling between the light-sensing flavin adenine dinucleotide chromophore, the dimer interface, and the C-terminal tail helix, with a likely involvement of the phosphate binding loop. Taken together, our work establishes PdLCry as a CRY protein with inverse photo-oligomerization with respect to plant CRYs, and provides molecular insights into how this protein might help discriminating the different light intensities associated with sunlight and moonlight.
Organizational Affiliation:
Institute of Molecular Physiology (IMP), Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Hanns-Dieter-Hüsch-Weg 17, 55128, Mainz, Germany.
