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Science 24 August 2007:
Vol. 317. no. 5841, pp. 1090 - 1093
DOI: 10.1126/science.1144306
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Reports

Blue-Light-Activated Histidine Kinases: Two-Component Sensors in Bacteria

Trevor E. Swartz,1* Tong-Seung Tseng,2 Marcus A. Frederickson,1 Gastón Paris,3 Diego J. Comerci,6 Gireesh Rajashekara,4,7 Jung-Gun Kim,5 Mary Beth Mudgett,5 Gary A. Splitter,4 Rodolfo A. Ugalde,6 Fernando A. Goldbaum,3 Winslow R. Briggs,2 Roberto A. Bogomolni1{dagger}

Histidine kinases, used for environmental sensing by bacterial two-component systems, are involved in regulation of bacterial gene expression, chemotaxis, phototaxis, and virulence. Flavin-containing domains function as light-sensory modules in plant and algal phototropins and in fungal blue-light receptors. We have discovered that the prokaryotes Brucella melitensis, Brucella abortus, Erythrobacter litoralis, and Pseudomonas syringae contain light-activated histidine kinases that bind a flavin chromophore and undergo photochemistry indicative of cysteinyl-flavin adduct formation. Infection of macrophages by B. abortus was stimulated by light in the wild type but was limited in photochemically inactive and null mutants, indicating that the flavin-containing histidine kinase functions as a photoreceptor regulating B. abortus virulence.

1 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
2 Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Stanford, CA, USA.
3 Fundación Instituto Leloir, Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas Buenos Aires–Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (IIBBA-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
4 Department of Animal Health and Biomedical Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.
5 Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
6 Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, CONICET, San Martín, Argentina.
7 Food Animal Health Research Program–Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (FAHRP-OARDC), Ohio State University, Wooster, OH, USA.

* Present address: Early Stage Pharmaceutical Development, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA, USA.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bogo{at}chemistry.ucsc.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Distribution and Phylogeny of Light-Oxygen-Voltage-Blue-Light-Signaling Proteins in the Three Kingdoms of Life.
U. Krauss, B. Q. Minh, A. Losi, W. Gartner, T. Eggert, A. von Haeseler, and K.-E. Jaeger (2009)
J. Bacteriol. 191, 7234-7242
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Lights, Rhythms, Infection: The Role of Light and the Circadian Clock in Determining the Outcome of Plant-Pathogen Interactions.
L. C. Roden and R. A. Ingle (2009)
PLANT CELL 21, 2546-2552
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Shedding (blue) light on algal gene expression.
A. Losi and W. Gartner (2008)
PNAS 105, 7-8
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A photosensory two-component system regulates bacterial cell attachment.
E. B. Purcell, D. Siegal-Gaskins, D. C. Rawling, A. Fiebig, and S. Crosson (2007)
PNAS 104, 18241-18246
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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