Time-resolved crystallography provides insight into the photochemical reactions in photoreceptor proteins, explaining the earliest steps of how plants, fungi and bacteria sense red light.

Extremely short X-ray pulses from a free-electron laser are helping to clarify how phytochromes respond to light, but puzzles remain.

Molecular insights to phytochrome activation and signal transduction over long distances enable the allosteric regulation of enzymatic effectors.

The abundance of the PIF4 transcription factor, central in light and temperature signaling, is controlled by an E3 ligase encoded by BOP proteins.

A conserved, circadian-regulated protein alters light perception in plants to regulate daily growth in response to changing photoperiod.

A phosphorylation dependent translocation of PIF7 and involvement of 14-3-3 proteins reveal novel regulation mechanisms in shade signal transduction.

The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum employs a terpene synthase-cytochrome P450 metabolic gene cluster to produce a novel trisnorsesquiterpene discodiene.

Shewanella oneidensis bacteria use an abiotic reaction to help shuttle electrons outside of the cell.

Cyanobacteria with chlorophyll f show substantial near-infrared radiation-driven photosynthesis and can play an important role for primary production in endolithic, intertidal habitats.

In Brachypodiumdistachyon, a single locus accounts for natural variation in whether perception of short day-lengths confers competence to flower.