Fluorescence recovery protein: a powerful yet underexplored regulator of photoprotection in cyanobacteria

Abstract

Cyanobacteria utilize an elegant photoprotection mechanism mediated by the photoactive Orange Carotenoid Protein (OCP), which upon binding dissipates excess energy from light-harvesting complexes, phycobilisomes. The OCP activity is efficiently regulated by its partner, the Fluorescence Recovery Protein (FRP). FRP accelerates OCP conversion to the resting state, thus counteracting the OCP-mediated photoprotection. Behind the deceptive simplicity of such regulation is hidden a multistep process involving dramatic conformational rearrangements in OCP and FRP, the details of which became clearer only a decade after the FRP discovery. Yet many questions regarding the functioning of FRP have remained controversial. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge and understanding of the FRP role in cyanobacterial photoprotection as well as its evolutionary history that presumably lies far beyond cyanobacteria.