IDENTIFICATION OF RETINAL IN HIGHER-PLANTS - IS A RHODOPSIN-LIKE PROTEIN THE BLUE-LIGHT RECEPTOR

We here report the purification and identification of all-trans-retina l by column chromatography, HPLC and GC-MS in a tomato mutant (Lycoper sion esculentum Mill. aurea mutant). Since retinal, wherever present, is almost exclusively associated to an opsin to form a light-sensitive complex (rhodopsin-like proteins), this finding suggests that a rhodo psin-like protein could function as a blue light photoreceptor in high er plants.