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Photolyase
Photolyases () are DNA repair enzymes that repair damage caused by exposure to ultraviolet light. These enzymes require visible light (from the violet/blue end of the spectrum) both for their own activation and for the actual DNA repair. The DNA repair mechanism involving photolyases is called photoreactivation. They mainly convert pyrimidine dimers into a normal pair of pyrimidine bases. Function Photolyases bind complementary DNA strands and break certain types of pyrimidine dimers that arise when a pair of thymine or cytosine bases on the same strand of DNA become covalently linked. The bond length of this dimerization is shorter than the bond length of normal B-DNA structure which produces an incorrect template for replication and transcription. The more common covalent linkage involves the formation of a cyclobutane bridge. Photolyases have a high affinity for these lesions and reversibly bind and convert them back to the original bases. Evolution Photolyase is a ph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptochrome
Cryptochromes (from the Greek κρυπτός χρώμα, "hidden colour") are a class of flavoproteins found in plants and animals that are sensitive to blue light. They are involved in the circadian rhythms and the sensing of magnetic fields in a number of species. The name ''cryptochrome'' was proposed as a ''portmanteau'' combining the ''chromatic'' nature of the photoreceptor, and the ''cryptogamic'' organisms on which many blue-light studies were carried out. The two genes ''Cry1'' and ''Cry2'' code the two cryptochrome proteins CRY1 and CRY2. In insects and plants, CRY1 regulates the circadian clock in a light-dependent fashion, whereas in mammals, CRY1 and CRY2 act as light-independent inhibitors of CLOCK- BMAL1 components of the circadian clock. In plants, blue-light photoreception can be used to cue developmental signals. Besides chlorophylls, cryptochromes are the only proteins known to form photoinduced radical-pairs ''in vivo''. These appear to enable some animals ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DNA Photolyase N-terminal Domain
DNA photolyase, N-terminal is an evolutionary conserved protein domain. This domain binds a light harvesting chromophore that enhanced the spectrum of photolyase or cryptochrome light absorption, i.e. an antenna. It adopts the rossmann fold. The cofactor may be either the pterin 5,10-Methenyltetrahydrofolate (MTHF, ) in ''folate photolyases'' () or the deazaflavin 8-hydroxy-7,8-didemethyl-5-deazariboflavin (8-HDF, ) in ''deazaflavin photolyases'' (). The 8-HDF ligand usually binds into this domain (next to the C-terinal half), while MHF tends to bind to an outside groove of this domain. A structural signature for 8-HDF binding has been produced, highlighting amino acid residues that determine which antenna a photolyase can use. Experiments on a ''Thermus thermophilus'' protein with this domain () shows that artificial substrates can be alternatively used for a modified absorption spectra. It naturally binds FMN in a pose similar to 8-HDF. In addition, many cryptochromes, especial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DNA Repair
DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as radiation can cause DNA damage, resulting in tens of thousands of individual molecular lesions per cell per day. Many of these lesions cause structural damage to the DNA molecule and can alter or eliminate the cell's ability to transcribe the gene that the affected DNA encodes. Other lesions induce potentially harmful mutations in the cell's genome, which affect the survival of its daughter cells after it undergoes mitosis. As a consequence, the DNA repair process is constantly active as it responds to damage in the DNA structure. When normal repair processes fail, and when cellular apoptosis does not occur, irreparable DNA damage may occur, including double-strand breaks and DNA crosslinkages (interstrand crosslinks or ICLs). This can eventually lead to malign ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyrimidine Dimer
Pyrimidine dimers are molecular lesions formed from thymine or cytosine bases in DNA via photochemical reactions, commonly associated with direct DNA damage. Ultraviolet light (UV; particularly UVB) induces the formation of covalent linkages between consecutive bases along the nucleotide chain in the vicinity of their carbon–carbon double bonds. The dimerization reaction can also occur among pyrimidine bases in dsRNA (double-stranded RNA)—uracil or cytosine. Two common UV products are cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) and 6–4 photoproducts. These premutagenic lesions alter the structure and possibly the base-pairing. Up to 50–100 such reactions per second might occur in a skin cell during exposure to sunlight, but are usually corrected within seconds by photolyase reactivation or nucleotide excision repair. Uncorrected lesions can inhibit polymerases, cause misreading during transcription or replication, or lead to arrest of replication. It causes sunburn and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arabidopsis Thaliana
''Arabidopsis thaliana'', the thale cress, mouse-ear cress or arabidopsis, is a small flowering plant native to Eurasia and Africa. ''A. thaliana'' is considered a weed; it is found along the shoulders of roads and in disturbed land. A winter annual with a relatively short lifecycle, ''A. thaliana'' is a popular model organism in plant biology and genetics. For a complex multicellular eukaryote, ''A. thaliana'' has a relatively small genome around 135 megabase pairs. It was the first plant to have its genome sequenced, and is a popular tool for understanding the molecular biology of many plant traits, including flower development and light sensing. Description ''Arabidopsis thaliana'' is an annual (rarely biennial) plant, usually growing to 20–25 cm tall. The leaves form a rosette at the base of the plant, with a few leaves also on the flowering stem. The basal leaves are green to slightly purplish in color, 1.5–5 cm long, and 2–10 mm broad, with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deazaflavin
Coenzyme F420 or 8-hydroxy-5-deazaflavin is a coenzyme (sometimes called a cofactor) involved in redox reactions in methanogens, in many Actinomycetota, and sporadically in other bacterial lineages. It is a flavin derivative. The coenzyme is a substrate for coenzyme F420 hydrogenase, 5,10-methylenetetrahydromethanopterin reductase and methylenetetrahydromethanopterin dehydrogenase. A particularly rich natural source of F420 is '' Mycobacterium smegmatis'', in which several dozen enzymes use F420 instead of the related cofactor FMN used by homologous enzymes in most other species. Eukaryotes including the fruit fly ''Drosophila melanogaster'' and the algae ''Ostreococcus tauri'' also use a precursor to this cofactor. Biosynthesis Coenzyme F420 is synthesized via a multi-step pathway: * 7,8-didemethyl-8-hydroxy-5-deazariboflavin synthase produces Coenzyme FO (also written F0), itself a cofactor of DNA photolyase (antenna). This is the head portion of the molecule. * 2-phos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyclobutane
Cyclobutane is a cycloalkane and organic compound with the formula (CH2)4. Cyclobutane is a colourless gas and commercially available as a liquefied gas. Derivatives of cyclobutane are called cyclobutanes. Cyclobutane itself is of no commercial or biological significance, but more complex derivatives are important in biology and biotechnology. Structure The bond angles between carbon atoms are significantly strained and as such have lower bond energies than related linear or unstrained hydrocarbons, e.g. butane or cyclohexane. As such, cyclobutane is unstable above about 500 °C. The four carbon atoms in cyclobutane are not coplanar; instead the ring typically adopts a folded or "puckered" conformation. This implies that the C-C-C angle is less than 90°. One of the carbon atoms makes a 25° angle with the plane formed by the other three carbons. In this way some of the eclipsing interactions are reduced. The conformation is also known as a "butterfly". Equivale ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pterin
Pterin is a heterocyclic compound composed of a pteridine ring system, with a "keto group" (a lactam) and an amino group on positions 4 and 2 respectively. It is structurally related to the parent bicyclic heterocycle called pteridine. Pterins, as a group, are compounds related to pterin with additional substituents. Pterin itself is of no biological significance. Pterins were first discovered in the pigments of butterfly wings (hence the origin of their name, from the Greek ''pteron (πτερόν)'', wing) and perform many roles in coloration in the biological world. Chemistry Pterins exhibit a wide range of tautomerism in water, beyond what is assumed by just keto-enol tautomerism. For the unsubstituted pterin, at least five tautomers are commonly cited. For 6-methylpterin, seven tautomers are theoretically predicted to be important in solution. The pteridine ring system contains four nitrogen atoms, reducing its aromaticity to the point that it can be attacked by nucl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halobacterium Halobium
''Halobacterium salinarum'', formerly known as ''Halobacterium cutirubrum'' or ''Halobacterium halobium'', is an extremely halophilic marine obligate aerobic archaeon. Despite its name, this is not a bacterium, but a member of the domain Archaea. It is found in salted fish, hides, hypersaline lakes, and salterns. As these salterns reach the minimum salinity limits for extreme halophiles, their waters become purple or reddish color due to the high densities of halophilic Archaea. ''H. salinarum'' has also been found in high-salt food such as salt pork, marine fish, and sausages. The ability of ''H. salinarum'' to survive at such high salt concentrations has led to its classification as an extremophile. Cell morphology and metabolism Halobacteria are single-celled, rod-shaped microorganisms that are among the most ancient forms of life and appeared on Earth billions of years ago. The membrane consists of a single lipid bilayer surrounded by an S-layer. The S-layer is made of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electron Transfer
Electron transfer (ET) occurs when an electron relocates from an atom or molecule to another such chemical entity. ET is a mechanistic description of certain kinds of redox reactions involving transfer of electrons. Electrochemical processes are ET reaction. ET reactions are relevant to photosynthesis and respiration. ET reactions commonly involve transition metal complexes, In organic chemistry ET is a step in some commercial polymerization reactions. It is foundational to photoredox catalysis. Classes of electron transfer Inner-sphere electron transfer In inner-sphere ET, the two redox centers are covalently linked during the ET. This bridge can be permanent, in which case the electron transfer event is termed intramolecular electron transfer. More commonly, however, the covalent linkage is transitory, forming just prior to the ET and then disconnecting following the ET event. In such cases, the electron transfer is termed intermolecular electron transfer. A famous ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
