Recipient Organization
RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
3 RUTGERS PLZA
NEW BRUNSWICK,NJ 08901-8559
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
In recent years, research on the pigment-protein (antenna) complexes that harvest light energy used by photosynthetic organism has seen an explosion of progress. This has included the determination of the molecular structure of all the major antenna complexes, and the development of experimental procedures that permit the detection and elucidation of the primary light gathering and light energy transferring events that they catalyze. Moreover, the complete genome sequences of many photosynthetic organisms, as well as techniques for the manipulation of their genes, are now available. This has resulted in an enhanced understanding of the regulation and protection of antenna systems, which will ultimately lead to improvements in worldwide crop productivity and the development of hardier crop plants. Accordingly, a need exist for wider communication of this emerging information to the scientists in the various disciplines, ranging from theoretical chemists to biophysicists,
biochemists and plant physiologists, who conduct cutting-edge research on light-harvesting systems. Towards this end, we are organizing the PS 2004 Light-Harvesting Systems Workshop to serve as a satellite meeting of the 13th International Congress on Photosynthesis/Montreal. This workshop will have a much more intimate format than the main congress, and will be organized with an emphasis on informality and exchange of ideas and new results from ongoing work. This gathering will further enhance productive collaborations among such a diverse group of scientists.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
A satellite meeting to the 13th International Congress on Photosynthesis on the topic of photosynthetic light-harvesting systems will be held on 26-29th August at Hotel Le Chantecler, Sainte-Adele, Quebec, Canada, near Montreal. This Workshop will be limited to approximately 100 participants and will be organized similarly to a Gordon Research Conference, with a significant amount of time set aside for discussion and posters. This area of research has seen exceptionally rapid progress in recent years, with the determination of several antenna protein structures and the maturing of ultrafast spectroscopic and molecular biological techniques for investigation and manipulation of photosynthetic systems. Particular attention will be paid to new concepts on the regulation and protection of antenna systems as well as to evolutionary aspects, as revealed by the emerging fields of genomics and proteomics. Sessions will be held dealing with most of the known types of
photosynthetic antennas. Scientific methods used to study these systems include spectroscopy, structure determination, molecular biology, protein chemistry, reconstitution from purified components, and model systems and theory. The participation of biochemists, biophysicists, plant physiologists, and theoretical and computational chemists will assure that in this conference, the broadest possible interdisciplinary approach is followed. A central theme will be how the emerging high-resolution structural information on antenna proteins is providing enhanced understanding of areas ranging from the kinetics of energy transfer processes to the assembly of the photosynthetic apparatus. A special issue of Photosynthesis Research, to be co-edited by the conference organizers, will be devoted to Research articles and Minireviews arising from presentations made at the Workshop on photosynthetic light-harvesting systems.
Project Methods
This meeting will continue a series of these satellite conferences that have been held prior to the last four international photosynthesis congresses in Japan, France, Hungary and Australia. With an attendance of 75-100, this workshop has a much more intimate format than the main congress, which will have several thousand participants and a less thorough coverage of light-harvesting aspects. It will be organized similarly to a Gordon Research Conference, with the emphasis on informality and exchange of ideas and new results from ongoing work. In keeping with this plan, a significant amount of time is set aside for discussion and posters. The organizers are: Robert A. Niederman, USA, Robert E. Blankenship, USA, Harry Frank, USA, Bruno Robert, France and Rienk van Grondelle, The Netherlands. Exceptionally rapid progress in the understanding of light-harvesting systems has been made in recent years, with the determination of several antenna protein structures and the
maturing of ultrafast spectroscopic and molecular biological techniques for investigation and manipulation of photosynthetic systems. Attention will be paid to new concepts on the regulation and protection of antenna systems, as well as to evolutionary aspects as revealed by the emerging fields of genomics and proteomics, based upon recently sequenced and annotated genomes. Sessions will be held dealing with most of the known types of photosynthetic antennae, including integral membrane antennae from bacterial, plant and algal systems as well as peripheral antennae such as chlorosomes, carotenoid-chlorophyll proteins and phycobilisomes. Approaches will include time-resolved and single molecule spectroscopy, structure determination (by X-ray diffraction, NMR and by electron and atomic force microscopy), molecular biology, protein chemistry, reconstitution from purified components, model systems and theory. We have contacted David B. Knaff, Editor-In-Chief of Photosynthetic Research,
who has agreed to organize a special issue in which presentations from the Light-Harvesting Systems Workshop will be published as Research papers and Minireviews. Submitted manuscripts will be reviewed and will be distinct from contributions that will be published in the Proceedings of 13th International Congress on Photosynthesis. Robert Blankenship will serve as Editor for this issue, with Harry Frank, Robert Niederman, Bruno Robert and Rienk van Grondelle acting as Guest Editors.