Multimedia Gallery - Micrographs of plant roots with highlighted proteins that initiate plants' light responses.

November 30, 2007

Micrographs of plant roots with highlighted proteins that initiate plants' light responses.

This image shows micrographs of plant roots. The green dots inside indicate presence of the FHY3 protein in the cells' nuclei. Notice the protein has accumulated in the division zone of the primary root. The artists have added computational models in the middle showing FHY3 protein (in green) binding to DNA (shown in gray). Researchers have discovered that FHY3 and FAR1, two proteins derived from what are called "jumping genes", put into motion the sequence of events that bring about the light responses of a plant such as growth, flowering and straining towards light.

Credit: Chris Pelkie, Daniel Ripoll, and Rongcheng Lin

Images credited to the National Science Foundation, a federal agency, are in the public domain. The images were created by employees of the United States Government as part of their official duties or prepared by contractors as "works for hire" for NSF. You may freely use NSF-credited images and, at your discretion, credit NSF with a "Courtesy: National Science Foundation" notation.

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