• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.91-94
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• 2018

Bilin tetrapyrroles are metabolic products of the breakdown of porphyrins within a species. In the case of mammals, these bilins are formed by the catabolism of heme and can be utilized as either biomarkers in disease or as an indicator of human waste contamination. Although a small subset of bilin tandem mass spectrometry reports exist, limited data is available in online databases for their fragmentation. The use of fragmentation data is important for metabolomics analyses to determine the identity of compounds detected within a sample. Therefore, in this study, the fragmentation of bilins generated by positive ion mode electrospray ionization is examined by collision-induced dissociation (CID) as a function of collision energy on an FT-ICR MS. The use of the FT-ICR MS allows for high mass accuracy measurements, and thus the formulas of resultant product ions can be ascertained. Based on our observations, fragmentation behavior for hemin, biliverdin and its dimethyl ester, phycocyanobilin, bilirubin, bilirubin conjugate, mesobilirubin, urobilin, and stercobilin are discussed in the context of the molecular structure and collision energy. This report provides insight into the identification of structures within this class of molecules for untargeted analyses.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• 제9권2호
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• pp.90-93
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• 2002

Phytochrome A (phyA) and phytochrome B (phyB) perceive light and adapt to fluctuating circumstances by different manners in terms of effective wavelengths, required fluence and photoreversibility. Action spectra for induction of seed germination and inhibition of hypocotyl elongation using phytochrome mutants of Arabidopsis showed major difference. PhyA is the principal photoreceptor for the very low fluence responses and the far-red light-induced high irradiance responses, while phyB controls low fluence response in a red/far-red reversible mode. The structural requirement of their bilin chromophores for photosensory specificity of phyA and phyB was investigated by reconstituting holophytochromes through feeding various synthetic bilins to the following chromophore-deficient mutants: hy1, hyl/phyA and hyl/phyB mutants of Arabidopsis. We found that the vinyl side-chain of the D-ring in phytochromobilin interacts with phyA apoprotein. This interaction plays a direct role in mediating the specific photosensory function of phyA. The ethyl side-chain of the D-ring in phycocyanobilin fails to interact with phyA apoprotein, therefore, phyA specific photosensory function is not observed. In contrast, both phytochromobilin and phycocyanobilin interact with phyB apoprotein and induce phyB specific photosensory functions. Structural requirements of the apoproteins and the chromophores for the specific photoperception of phyA and phyB are discussed.