ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF HOMOLOGS OF PLANT BLUE-LIGHT PHOTORECEPTOR (CRYPTOCHROME) GENES FROM THE FERN ADIANTUM-CAPILLUS-VENERIS

Many blue-light mediated physiological responses have been studied in the fern Adiantum capillus-veneris. We have isolated genomic clones en coding sequences similar to those encoding blue-light photoreceptors ( cryptochromes) in higher plants using the Arabidopsis CRY1 cDNA as a p robe, and these positive clones fall into five independent groups. Usi ng RACE procedures, we obtained full-length cDNA sequences for three o f these five groups. The deduced amino acid sequences include the phot olyase-homologous domain in the N-terminal half, and they also contain a C-terminal extension of about 200 amino acids in length. These stru ctural features indicate that the genes indeed encode Adiantum cryptoc hromes and represent a small gene family having at least three members .