Phytochromes in Agrobacterium fabrum

Tilman Lamparter; Peng Xue; Afaf Elkurdi; Gero Kaeser; Luisa Sauthof; Patrick Scheerer; Norbert Krauß

doi:10.3389/fpls.2021.642801

Phytochromes in Agrobacterium fabrum

Front Plant Sci. 2021 Apr 29:12:642801. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.642801. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Tilman Lamparter¹, Peng Xue¹, Afaf Elkurdi¹, Gero Kaeser¹, Luisa Sauthof², Patrick Scheerer², Norbert Krauß¹

Affiliations

¹ Botanical Institute, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany.
² Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics, Group Protein X-ray Crystallography and Signal Transduction, Berlin, Germany.

Abstract

The focus of this review is on the phytochromes Agp1 and Agp2 of Agrobacterium fabrum. These are involved in regulation of conjugation, gene transfer into plants, and other effects. Since crystal structures of both phytochromes are known, the phytochrome system of A. fabrum provides a tool for following the entire signal transduction cascade starting from light induced conformational changes to protein interaction and the triggering of DNA transfer processes.

Keywords: bacterial conjugation; crystal structure; evolution; histidine kinase; light regulation; origin of plant phytochromes; plant infection; protein conformational changes.

Publication types

Review