A protein construct including a gene encoding a light-sensitive protein fused to at least one of either a low complexity sequence, an intrinsically disordered protein region (IDR), or a repeating sequence of a linker and another gene encoding a light-sensitive protein. Among the many different possibilities contemplated, the protein construct may also advantageously include cleavage tags. This protein construct may be utilized for a variety of functions, including a method for protein purification, which requires introducing the protein construct into a living cell, and inducing the formation of clusters by irradiating the construct with light. The method may also advantageously include cleaving a target protein from an IDR, and separating the clusters via centrifuge. A kit for practicing in vivo aggregation or liquid-liquid phase separation is also included, the kit including the protein construct and a light source capable of producing a wavelength that the light-sensitive protein will respond to.

The invention relates to compositions for repairing the adverse effects of the environment daily stress, sun exposure or premature-aging on human skin which comprise a DNA repair enzyme and a phycobiliprotein.

Provided is a CRY2 variant in which E279 and/or E281 having a negative charge in a N.sub.277SEGE.sub.281 sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 is substituted with any one selected from the neutral amino acid group of alanine (A), isoleucine (I), leucine (L), valine (V), phenylalanine (F), methionine (M) and tryptophan (W), or in which S278 or G280 of a N.sub.277SEGE.sub.281 sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 is substituted with any one selected from the bulky amino acid group of tryptophan (W) and phenylalanine (F).

Provided herein is a method to treat skin damage due to light comprising topically administering to a subject in need thereof a composition comprising a sufficient amount of Arabidopsis thaliana extract, micrococcus lysate and plankton extract to simultaneously treat the damage caused by skin exposure to UVA, UVB, infrared light, visible light or a combination thereof.

A composition comprising a recombinant enzyme that comprises a fusion of: a cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer photolyase corresponding to an amino acid encoding sequence having at least 85% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO 1, a pyrimidine(6-4)pyrimidone photolyase corresponding to an amino acid encoding sequence having at least 85% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO 2, and a skin penetrating peptide.

The invention provides a recombinant photosynthetic organism that has been genetically modified in a gene encoding a protein kinase-like protein. The recombinant organism exhibits higher biomass productivity and higher lipid productivity versus a corresponding control algal organism not having the genetic modification. The recombinant organism is therefore useful in applications requiring biomass and/or lipid productivity, e.g., in the production of biofuels or other lipidic matter. Methods of using the organism and biomass containing or produced by the organism are also provided.

Three recombinant E. coli strains produce the enzymes CPD-photolyase, 6,4-bifunctional photolyase and 6,4-photolyase, from bacterial Antarctic isolates of the genus Hymenobacter the first one and Sphingomonas the others. It is also disclosed a process of production and purification of the recombinant enzymes with high performance, high degree of purity and high catalytic repair activity, having applications in, but it is not limited to, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry. A fast, cheap and qualitative method is provided for the determination of the CPD photolyase activity.