Abstract
Molecular structure and molecular mechanism of photoreception of phytochrome, a photoreceptor for morphogenetic responses in green plants, are reviewed. In the first half, domain structures are discussed based on their proteolytic sites, phosphorylation sites, dimerization sites, e. t.c. And recent topics related to their possible functions, e.g. transmitter module of bacteria sensor protein, ATP-binding motif analogue, are summerized. In the second half, the quartenary molecular and the chromophore structures are discussed based on small-angle Xray scattering and resonance Raman scattering, respectively, and the molecular mechanism of polarotropic responses analyzed based on linear dichroism of oriented phytochrome preparations is discussed.
