Issue 79, 2013
From the journal:

Chemical Communications

Synthesis of phycocyanobilin in mammalian cells†

Konrad Müller,a   Raphael Engesser,bc   Jens Timmer,bcde   Ferenc Nagy,af   Matias D. Zurbriggena  and  Wilfried Weber*acd  

* Corresponding authors

a Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Schänzlestrasse 1, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
E-mail: wilfried.weber@biologie.uni-freiburg.de
Fax: +49 761 203 97660
Tel: +49 761 203 97654

b Physics Department, University of Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Str. 3, 79104 Freiburg, Germany

c BIOSS Centre for Biological Signalling Studies, University of Freiburg, Schänzlestrasse 18, 79104 Freiburg, Germany

d Freiburg Centre for Biosystems Analysis (ZBSA), University of Freiburg, Habsburgerstrasse 49, 79104 Freiburg, Germany

e Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), University of Freiburg, Albertstrasse 19, 79104 Freiburg, Germany

f Biological Research Centre, Institute of Plant Biology, 6726 Szeged, Hungary

Abstract

The chromophore 3-Z phycocyanobilin (PCB, (2R,3Z)-8,12-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-18-ethyl-3-ethylidene-2,7,13,17-tetramethyl-2,3-dihydrobilin-1,19(21H,24H)-dione) mediates red and far-red light perception in natural and synthetic biological systems. Here we describe a PCB synthesis strategy in mammalian cells. We optimize the production by co-localizing the biocatalysts to the substrate source, by coordinating the availability of the biocatalysts and by reducing the degradation of the reaction product. We show that the resulting PCB levels of 2 μM are sufficient to sustain the functionality of red light-responsive optogenetic tools suitable for the light-inducible control of gene expression in mammalian cells.

Graphical abstract: Synthesis of phycocyanobilin in mammalian cells

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC45065A
Article type
Communication
Submitted
05 Jul 2013
Accepted
31 Jul 2013
First published
31 Jul 2013

Chem. Commun., 2013,49, 8970-8972

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Synthesis of phycocyanobilin in mammalian cells

K. Müller, R. Engesser, J. Timmer, F. Nagy, M. D. Zurbriggen and W. Weber, Chem. Commun., 2013, 49, 8970 DOI: 10.1039/C3CC45065A

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