Abstract
A cDNA clone encoding phytochrome (apoprotein) of the zygnematophycean green alga Mougeotia scalaris has been isolated and sequenced. The clone consisted of 3372 bp, encoded 1124 amino acids, and showed strain-specific nucleotide exchanges for M. scalaris, originating from different habitats. No indication was found of multiple phytochrome genes in Mougeotia. The 5′ non-coding region of the Mougeotia PHY cDNA harbours a striking stem-loop structure. Homologies with higher-plant phytochromes were 52–53% for PHYA and 57–59% for PHYB. Highest homology scores were found with lower-plant phytochromes, for example 67% for Selaginella (Lycopodiopsida), 64% for Physcomitrella (Bryopsida) and 73% for Mesotaenium (Zygnematophyceae). In an unrooted phylogenetic tree, the position of Mougeotia PHY appeared most distant to all other known PHYs. The amino acids Gly-Val in the chromophore-binding domain (-Arg-Gly-Val-His-Gly-Cys-) were characteristic of the zygnematophycean PHYs known to date. There was no indication of a transmembrane region in Mougeotia phytochrome in particular, but a carboxyl-terminal 16-mer three-fold repeat in both, Mougeotia and Mesotaenium PHYs may represent a microtubule-binding domain. Unexpected for a non-angiosperm phytochrome, its expression was autoregulated in Mougeotia in a red/far-red reversible manner: under Pr conditions, phytochrome mRNA levels were tenfold higher than under Pfr conditions.
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Winands, A., Wagner, G. Phytochrome of the green alga Mougeotia: cDNA sequence, autoregulation and phylogenetic position. Plant Mol Biol 32, 589–597 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00020200
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00020200