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FRET-Mediated Long-Range Wavelength Transformation by Photoconvertible Fluorescent Proteins as an Efficient Mechanism to Generate Orange-Red Light in Symbiotic Deep Water Corals

Photoconvertible fluorescent proteins (pcRFPs) are a group of fluorophores that undergo an irreversible green-to-red shift in emission colour upon irradiation with near-ultraviolet (near-UV) light. Despite their wide application in biotechnology, the high-level expression of pcRFPs in mesophotic and...

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Autores principales: Bollati, Elena, Plimmer, Daniel, D’Angelo, Cecilia, Wiedenmann, Jörg
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5535822/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28677653
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms18071174
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author Bollati, Elena
Plimmer, Daniel
D’Angelo, Cecilia
Wiedenmann, Jörg
author_facet Bollati, Elena
Plimmer, Daniel
D’Angelo, Cecilia
Wiedenmann, Jörg
author_sort Bollati, Elena
collection PubMed
description Photoconvertible fluorescent proteins (pcRFPs) are a group of fluorophores that undergo an irreversible green-to-red shift in emission colour upon irradiation with near-ultraviolet (near-UV) light. Despite their wide application in biotechnology, the high-level expression of pcRFPs in mesophotic and depth-generalist coral species currently lacks a biological explanation. Additionally, reduced penetration of near-UV wavelengths in water poses the question whether light-driven photoconversion is relevant in the mesophotic zone, or whether a different mechanism is involved in the post-translational pigment modification in vivo. Here, we show in a long-term mesocosm experiment that photoconversion in vivo is entirely dependent on near-UV wavelengths. However, a near-UV intensity equivalent to the mesophotic underwater light field at 80 m depth is sufficient to drive the process in vitro, suggesting that photoconversion can occur near the lower distribution limits of these corals. Furthermore, live coral colonies showed evidence of efficient Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). Our simulated mesophotic light field maintained the pcRFP pool in a partially photoconverted state in vivo, maximising intra-tetrameric FRET and creating a long-range wavelength conversion system with higher quantum yield than other native RFPs. We hypothesise that efficient conversion of blue wavelengths, abundant at depth, into orange-red light could constitute an adaptation of corals to life in light-limited environments.
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spelling pubmed-55358222017-08-04 FRET-Mediated Long-Range Wavelength Transformation by Photoconvertible Fluorescent Proteins as an Efficient Mechanism to Generate Orange-Red Light in Symbiotic Deep Water Corals Bollati, Elena Plimmer, Daniel D’Angelo, Cecilia Wiedenmann, Jörg Int J Mol Sci Article Photoconvertible fluorescent proteins (pcRFPs) are a group of fluorophores that undergo an irreversible green-to-red shift in emission colour upon irradiation with near-ultraviolet (near-UV) light. Despite their wide application in biotechnology, the high-level expression of pcRFPs in mesophotic and depth-generalist coral species currently lacks a biological explanation. Additionally, reduced penetration of near-UV wavelengths in water poses the question whether light-driven photoconversion is relevant in the mesophotic zone, or whether a different mechanism is involved in the post-translational pigment modification in vivo. Here, we show in a long-term mesocosm experiment that photoconversion in vivo is entirely dependent on near-UV wavelengths. However, a near-UV intensity equivalent to the mesophotic underwater light field at 80 m depth is sufficient to drive the process in vitro, suggesting that photoconversion can occur near the lower distribution limits of these corals. Furthermore, live coral colonies showed evidence of efficient Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). Our simulated mesophotic light field maintained the pcRFP pool in a partially photoconverted state in vivo, maximising intra-tetrameric FRET and creating a long-range wavelength conversion system with higher quantum yield than other native RFPs. We hypothesise that efficient conversion of blue wavelengths, abundant at depth, into orange-red light could constitute an adaptation of corals to life in light-limited environments. MDPI 2017-07-04 /pmc/articles/PMC5535822/ /pubmed/28677653 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms18071174 Text en © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Bollati, Elena
Plimmer, Daniel
D’Angelo, Cecilia
Wiedenmann, Jörg
FRET-Mediated Long-Range Wavelength Transformation by Photoconvertible Fluorescent Proteins as an Efficient Mechanism to Generate Orange-Red Light in Symbiotic Deep Water Corals
title FRET-Mediated Long-Range Wavelength Transformation by Photoconvertible Fluorescent Proteins as an Efficient Mechanism to Generate Orange-Red Light in Symbiotic Deep Water Corals
title_full FRET-Mediated Long-Range Wavelength Transformation by Photoconvertible Fluorescent Proteins as an Efficient Mechanism to Generate Orange-Red Light in Symbiotic Deep Water Corals
title_fullStr FRET-Mediated Long-Range Wavelength Transformation by Photoconvertible Fluorescent Proteins as an Efficient Mechanism to Generate Orange-Red Light in Symbiotic Deep Water Corals
title_full_unstemmed FRET-Mediated Long-Range Wavelength Transformation by Photoconvertible Fluorescent Proteins as an Efficient Mechanism to Generate Orange-Red Light in Symbiotic Deep Water Corals
title_short FRET-Mediated Long-Range Wavelength Transformation by Photoconvertible Fluorescent Proteins as an Efficient Mechanism to Generate Orange-Red Light in Symbiotic Deep Water Corals
title_sort fret-mediated long-range wavelength transformation by photoconvertible fluorescent proteins as an efficient mechanism to generate orange-red light in symbiotic deep water corals
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5535822/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28677653
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms18071174
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