Three Protein Kinases from the Etiolated Oat Seedlings Phosphorylate Oat Phytochrome A In Vitro

Phosphorylation of phytochrome may play important functional roles to control plant photomorphogenesis. Many attempts have failed to identify the protein kinase that phosphorylates phytochrome in vivo. It has been reported that a polycation-stimulated protein kinase activity was associated with the purified phytochrome. However, it is not known if the kinase activity is an intrinsic property of phytochrome or whether it comes from a contaminant of the purified phytochrome. In the present study, three protein kinases that phosphorylate phytochrome have been identified from etiolated oat seedlings. A polycationstimulated protein kinase that had very similar enzymatic properties with that associated with the purified phytochrome was identified in the cytosolic extract. It phosphorylated several contaminant proteins in the kinase preparation as well as phytochrome and had a broad substrate specificity. A CK II-type protein kinase phosphorylated phytochrome and the exogenously added casein. It is likely that this kinase may not be a feasible candidate for the kinase phosphorylating phytochrome in vivo since the content of the kinase seemed to well exceed the content of phytochrome in the etiolated oat seedlings. Another protein kinase that had unique enzymatic properties phosphorylated phytochrome very specifically and seemed to be present in a small quantity in the etiohlted seedlings. It is expected that one of three kinases may be responsible for the phytochrome phosphorylation in vivo.