Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Cryptochromes are light-sensitive flavoproteins with various biological roles, including a proposed function in magnetoreception. This mechanism rests on a magnetically sensitive photochemical reaction of the flavin chromophore with a chain of tryptophan residues within the protein scaffold. However, the protein-mediated mechanisms of magnetic signal transduction are unclear. We have examined the response of an archetypal cryptochrome, Dm CRY, to photochemical activation by means of hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry, complemented by molecular dynamics simulations and cavity ring-down spectroscopy. We were able to measure the dynamics of Dm CRY at near-residue level resolution, revealing a reversible, long-lived, blue-light induced conformational change in the protein's C-terminal tail. This putative signaling state was validated using different illumination conditions, and by examining Dm CRY variants in which the electron transfer chain was perturbed. Our results show how the photochemical behavior of the flavin chromophore generates a state of Dm CRY that may initiate downstream interactions.
Source: Structure
Language: English
Subfield: Endocrine and Autonomic Systems
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $9,350
Funders: Waters Corporation, Niedersächsische Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, Deutsche Bahn, European Commission, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Volkswagen Foundation, Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur, Directorate for Biological Sciences, U.S. Air Force, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, European Research Council, Office of Naval Research, Air Force Materiel Command, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Office, Army Research Laboratory, Office of Naval Research Global
Awards: G1410692277, Integrated mass spectrometry measurements of protein dynamics, G1803172066, G1997636367, G2250607289, G3216673569, G3735802008, G3897885712, SFB 1372: Magnetrezeption und Navigation in Vertebraten: von der Biophysik zu Gehirn und Verhalten, G4138376986, G434337789, G4657977156, G495415785, G5259331294, G5449990919, G5986239459, G6098521345, TRR 386: HYP*MOL – Hyperpolarisation in molekularen Systemen, GRK 1976: Funktionelle Diversität von Cofaktoren in Enzymen, G7090116110, G7452299184, G7610676805, G8722205058
OpenAlex ID: W4413780443