Phytochromes are red and far-red light absorbing photoreceptors for photomorphogenesis in plants. The red/far wavelength reversible biliproteins are made up of two structural domains. The light-perceiving function of the photoreceptor resides in the N-terminal domain, whereas the signal transducing regulatory function is located within the C-terminal domain. The characteristic role of the phytochromes as phtosensory molecular switches is derived from the phototransformation between two distinct spectral forms, the red light absorbing Pr and the far-red light absorbing Pfr forms. The photoinduced Pr Pfr phototransformation accompanies subtle conformational changes throughout the phytochrome molecule. The conformational signals are subsequently transmitted to the C-terminal domain through various inter-domain crosstalks and induce the interaction of the activated C-terminal domain with phytochrome interacting factors. Thus the inter-domain crosstalks play critical roles in the photoactivation of the phytochromes. Posttranslational modifications, such as the phosphorylation of Ser-598, are also involved in this process through conformational changes and by modulating inter-domain signaling.

As sunlight not always optimized for every terrestrial plant in terms of light quality, quantity and duration, some plants suffer detrimental effects of sunlight exposure under certain conditions. Photoinhibition of photosynthesis is a typical phenomenon representing harmful light effects, commonly observed in many photosynthetic organisms. It is generally accepted that functional, structural loss of photosystem II complex(PSII) is the primary event of photoinhibition. Accumulating data also suggest that singlet oxygen($^1$O$_2$) is the main toxic species directly involved in it. There are two different views on the specific site and mechanism of $^1$O$_2$ production in the photosynthetic membrane. One of them favors the PSII reaction center, where the primary charge pairs recombination occurs as a prerequisite for the generation of $^1$O$_2$, and the other inclines to photosensitized $^1$O$_2$ formation by a substance located outside PSII. This article describes how we, as the advocators of the latter concept, have arrived at the conclusion that $^1$O$_2$ immediately involved in PSII photodamage is largely generated from the Rieske center of the cytochrome b$_{6}$/f complex and diffuses into PSII, attacking the reaction center subunits.s.

The 77 K emission and excitation spectra, and 298 K infrared and absorption spectra of mer-[CrCl(en)(dpt)]ZnCl$_4$(en=1,2-diaminoethane; dpt=1,5,9-triazanonane) have been measured. Ligand field electronic transitions due to spin-allowed and spin-forbidden are assigned. The zero-phonon line in the excitation spectrum splits into two components by 151$cm^{-1}$ /, and large$^2$E$^{g}$ splitting can be reproduced by the modern ligand field theory. It is confirmed that nitrogen atoms of the en and dpt ligands have a strong $\delta$-donor character, but chloride ligand has weak $\delta$-and $\pi$-donor properties toward chromium(III) ion.

We have evaluated a new mutagenesis strategy called random insertional mutagenesis with subtracted cDNA fragments. The cDNAs from long day Arabidopsis plants were subtracted by cDNAs from short day plants using PCR based cDNA subtraction. The subtracted cDNAs were inserted between 35S promoter and 3'-NOS terminator regardless of orientation. When the cDNA library was used for the random insertion into Arabidopsis genome by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, approximately 15% of transformants showed abnormal development in leaf, floral organ, shoot apex. When 20 mutants were analyzed, 12 mutants showed single cDNA fragment insertion and 8 mutants showed more than 2 transgene insertions. Only two mutants among 12 mutants that have single cDNA insert showed consistent phenotype at T2 generation, suggesting the genetic instability of the mutants.

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Irradiation of 1,3-cyclohexanedione and p-benzoquinone in methanol gave 3-methoxycyclohex-2-en-1-one. Allyl derivative of the 1,3-diketone was prepared as enol from and irradiated in methanol in the presence of p-benzoquinone to give the same type of photoproduct, i.e., 2-allyl-3-methoxycyclohex-2-en-1-one. Allyldibenzoylmethane was synthesized and irradiated with p-benzoauinone in methanol but no remarkable amount of photoproduct was obtained.

Although there are high concentrations of zinc and taurine in ocular tissue, their exact role and correlation in the visual process are not clear. The purpose of present study was to clarity this point using electroretinogram (ERG) recording and spectrophotometer measurements before and after zinc and taurine treatment in bullfrog's eye. The optimal zinc concentration used in this study was 10$^{-2}$ M ZnCl$_2$120 ${mu}ell$/12$m\ell$ ringer solution while the optimal turine concentration was 10$^{-2}$ M taurine 12${mu}ell$/12$m\ell$ ringer solution. For the effects of zinc and taurine on the retinal function, the changes of ERG parameters (especially threshold and b-wave) and absorption spectra were observed before and after treatment. It is noteworthy that high concentrations of zinc and taurine present in the retinal pigment epithelium and the retina. Our results indicate that dark-adapted ERG threshold became elevated and the peak amplitude of b-wave was increased with zinc and taurine treatment. Furthermore there are some synergism effects between zinc and taurine as a result of co-treatment. In spectral scan, absorbance increment due to zinc and taurine treatment was shown over the whole range of spectral range (300-750 nm) with some differences in absorbance increment depending on the case of treatment. As the results of above we believe that zinc and taurine, which are abundant in the retinal pigment epithelium and the retina particularly, may be essential factors for visual process, have some synergism with each other and be required to improve the visual sensitivity during visual adaptation.

Phosphorylation of cellular proteins is a key regulatory mehanism for signal transduction pathway in living cells. Phytochrome, a red/far-red light photoreceptor in plants, is known to employ protein phosphorylation for its light signaling, although its detauked mechanism is still ambiguous. This study is intended to identify the phosphoproteins and protein kinases that are regulated by phytochrome, by employing transgenic rice seedlings that overexpress Arabidopsis phytochrome A. Red light stimulated phsophorylation of a 70 kDa protein and far-red light negated the effect. The red light induced phosphotylation of the 70 kDa protein was strongly activated by heparin and inhibited by poly-L-lysine, suggesting that the 70 kDa protein phosphorylating kinase belongs to GSK-3/SHAGGY protein kinase that has functional roles in establishing cell fate and pattern formation in Drosophila. Taken together with the fact that phytochrome controls plant development, these results may suggest that a GSK-3/SHAGGY-related protein kinase in plant(ASK) is likely to be involved in phytochrome signal transduction.