AUTHOR=Yang Liang , Wang Xu , Deng Weixian , Mo Weiliang , Gao Jie , Liu Qing , Zhang Chuanyu , Wang Qin , Lin Chentao , Zuo Zecheng TITLE=Using HEK293T Expression System to Study Photoactive Plant Cryptochromes JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science VOLUME=7 YEAR=2016 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2016.00940 DOI=10.3389/fpls.2016.00940 ISSN=1664-462X ABSTRACT=

Cryptochromes are photolyase-like blue light receptors that are conserved in plants and animals. Although the light-dependent catalytic mechanism of photolyase is well studied, the photochemical mechanism of cryptochromes remains largely unknown. Lack of an appropriate protein expression system to obtain photochemically active cryptochrome holoproteins is a technical obstacle for the study of plant cryptochromes. We report here an easy-to-use method to express and study Arabidopsis cryptochrome in HEK293T cells. Our results indicate that Arabidopsis cryptochromes expressed in HEK293T are photochemically active. We envision a broad use of this method in the functional investigation of plant proteins, especially in the large-scale analyses of photochemical activities of cryptochromes such as blue light-dependent protein–protein interactions.