Recombinant pea type I phytochrome apoprotein expressed in yeast is shown to assemble in vitro with phycocyanobilin to produce a photoreversible phytochrome-like adduct. As an initial investigation of the amino acid sequence requirements for chromophore incorporation, three phyA gene product deletion mutants were produced in yeast. Truncation of the N-terminal tail to residue 46 demonstrates that this region is not critical to bilin attachment, but a deletion mutant lacking 222 amino acids from the N terminus failed to yield holophytochrome in vitro, under the same conditions. A mutant comprising a deletion of the C terminus to residue 548 showed bilin incorporation and red/far-red photoreversibility, indicating that bilin-apophytochrome assembly still occurred even when the entire C-terminal domain was truncated.

Deforce, L., Tomizawa, K., Ito, N., Farrens, D., Song, P. S., & Furuya, M. (1991). In vitro assembly of apophytochrome and apophytochrome deletion mutants expressed in yeast with phycocyanobilin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 88(23), 10392–10396.