| System analysis of Phycomyces light-growth response. Photoreceptor and hypertropic mutants Biophysical Journal, Volume 50, Issue 4, 1 October 1986, Pages 661-668 A. Palit, P. Pratap and E.D. Lipson Abstract The light-growth responses of Phycomyces behavioral mutants, defective in genes madB, madC, and madH, were studied with the sum-of-sinusoids method of system identification. Modified phototropic action spectra of these mutants have indicated that they have altered photoreceptors (P. Galland and E.D. Lipson, 1985, Photochem. Photobiol. 41:331). In the two preceding papers, a kinetic model of the light-growth response system was developed and applied to wild-type frequency kernels at several wavelengths and temperatures. The present mutant studies were conducted at wavelength 477 nm. The log-mean intensity was 6 X 10(-2)W m-2 for the madB and madC night-blind mutants, and 10(-4)W m-2 for the madH hypertropic mutant. The prolonged light-growth responses of the madB and madC mutants are reflected in the reduced dynamic order of their frequency kernels. The linear response of the hypertropic mutant is essentially normal, but its nonlinear behavior shows modified dynamics. The behavior of these mutants can be accounted for by suitable modifications of the parametric model of the system. These modifications together support the hypothesis that an integrated complex mediates sensory transduction in the light responses and other responses of the sporangiophore. Abstract | PDF (1225 kb) |
| System analysis of Phycomyces light-growth response: madC, madG, and madH mutants Biophysical Journal, Volume 55, Issue 3, 1 March 1989, Pages 519-526 A. Palit, P.R. Pratap and E.D. Lipson Abstract The light-growth response of Phycomyces has been studied further with the sum-of-sinusoids method in the framework of the Wiener theory of nonlinear system identification. The response was treated as a black box with the logarithm of light intensity as the input and elongation rate as the output. The nonlinear input-output relation of the light-growth response can be represented mathematically by a set of weighting functions called kernels, which appear in the Wiener intergral series. The linear (first-order) kernels of wild type, and of single and double mutants affected in genes madA to madG were determined previously with Gaussian white noise test stimuli, and were used to investigate the interactions among the products of these genes (R.C. Poe, P. Pratap, and E.D. Lipson. 1986. Biol. Cybern. 55:105.). We have used the more precise sum-of-sinusoids method to extend the interaction studies, including both the first- and second-order kernels. Specifically, we have investigated interactions of the madH ("hypertropic") gene product with the madC ("night blind") and madG ("stiff") gene products. Experiments were performed on the Phycomyces tracking machine. The log-mean intensity of the stimulus was 6 x 10(-2) W m-2 and the wavelength was 477 nm. The first- and second-order kernels were analyzed in terms of nonlinear kinetic models.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) Abstract | PDF (736 kb) |
| White noise analysis of Phycomyces light growth response system. II. Extended intensity ranges Biophysical Journal, Volume 15, Issue 10, 1 October 1975, Pages 1013-1031 E.D. Lipson Abstract By means of white gaussian noise stimulation, the Wiener kernels are derived for the Phycomyces light growth response for a variety of intensity conditions. In one experiment the intensity I, rather than log I, is used as the input variable. Under the very limited dynamic range of that experiment, the response is fairly linear. To examine the dependence of the kernels on dynamic range, a series of experiments were performed in which the range of log I was halved and doubled relative to normal. The amplitude of the kernels, but not the time course, is affected strongly by the choice of dynamic range, and the dependence reveals large-scale nonlinearities not evident in the kernels themselves. In addition kernels are evaluated for experiments at a number of absolute intensity levels ranging from 10(-12) to 10(-3) W/cm2. The kernel amplitudes are maximal at about 10(-6) W/cm2. At 10(-12) W/cm2, just above the absolute threshold, the respond is very small. The falloff at high intensity, attributable to inactivation of the photoreceptor, is analyzed in the framework of a first-order pigment kinetics model, yielding estimates for the partial extinction coefficient for inactivation epsilonI455 = (1.5 +/- 0.2) X 10(4) liter/mol-cm and a regeneration time constant of tau = (2.7 +/- 0.6) min. A model is introduced which associates the processes of adaptation and photoreceptor inactivation. The model predicts that the time constants for adaptation and pigment should be identical. This prediction is consistent with values in this and the preceding paper. The effects of pigment inactivation are simulated by a linear electronic analog circuit element, which may be cascaded with the linear simulator circuit in the preceding paper. Abstract | PDF (1137 kb) |
Copyright © 1975 The Biophysical Society. All rights reserved.
Biophysical Journal, Volume 15, Issue 10, 1033-1045, 1 October 1975
doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(75)85881-4
Research Article
E.D. Lipson
Wiener kernels have been measured for the light growth response of a number of mutants of Phycomyces which show abnormal phototropism (mad mutants). Representative mutants were chosen from the six complementation groups (madA to madF) associated with the light response pathway. One group, madA, associated with the input part of the pathway, exhibits an essentially normal response provided it is tested above its moderate threshold. The groups madB and madC appear more defective, in that their kernel amplitudes are very small even above their thresholds. Their similarity to each other suggests a close functional connection between the respective genes. The remaining three groups (madD, madE, and madF) have all been associated with the output of the pathway. Tbe kernels for all three indicate a gain reduction, which depends gradually on intensity. These three groups appear to have the same absolute threshold as wild-type. None of the mutants studied shows special behavior at high intensity that could be evidence of alterations in the photoreceptor complex.