Recipient Organization
GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCES, INC
512 LIBERTY LN
WEST KINGSTON,RI 02892-1502
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Photosynthesis is a highly interdisciplinary field, with researchers in the fields of physics, chemistry, biochemistry, cell biology, environmental and ecological sciences. In the two years since the last meeting, there has been an explosion of genome information for photosynthetic organisms including prokaryotes like purple photosynthetic bacteria, green sulfur bacteria, cyanobacteria, and eukaryotes like algae and diatoms. Studies of photosynthesis in extreme environments are now addressing questions at the molecular level. Functional genomics and proteomics technologies are also advancing rapidly with all model systems from Arabidopsis to cyanobacteria, and these approaches are leading to the discovery of interesting regulatory and signaling molecules that optimize photosynthesis in a changing environment. Dissection of the biogenesis of the photosynthetic apparatus or the photosynthetic organelle is leading to the discovery of processes that are specialized for the
photosynthetic apparatus, and molecules that are distinct from those that function for the respiratory complexes or in respiratory organelles. At the same time, advances in instrumentation and biophysical approaches and higher resolution structures, especially of super-complexes, are providing a more detailed picture of the fast energy and electron transfer reactions. Communication of the breadth of this new knowledge is, therefore, critical for investigators to keep up to date in a field that is making rapid progress.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The conference on the biochemical aspects of photosynthesis will bring together a group of scientists who offer various perspectives on the problem of light energy capture and energy conversion. The speakers have been chosen to represent some of the most exciting recent discoveries - many of them as yet unpublished. As is the tradition for the biochemically-oriented meeting, there will be an emphasis on assembly, gene expression, environmental regulation and mechanistic analysis. The topic of environmental stress regulation is particularly important at a practical level for agricultural practice in the field.
Project Methods
The conference will start with a session on Structure-Function Analysis, where the emphasis will be on the mechanistic questions that arise in the context of the now available high resolution structures of photosystems I and II of oxygenic photosynthesis. The next session takes the audience in a more biological direction with six lectures on Proteomics and Functional Genomics. The session on Proton and Electron Transfer brings us back to the more biophysical side of photosynthesis. Tuesday morning's session on Biogenesis and Assembly of Complexes emphasized problems of cell biology. The session on CF1 biogenesis and regulation and ATP synthesis focuses on new aspects of this well-studied process. Pigment synthesis is a very visible aspect of photosynthesis and is the process visualized in remote sensing of life on earth. Therefore, there will be a session on Pigments and Cofactor Synthesis, Assembly and Regulation. The night session on Wednesday will cover Antenna
Protein Structure Function and Regulation. The next session on Redox, Environmental Control and State Transitions represents one of the hottest topics in the field of photosynthesis. The Structures of the Photosynthetic Complexes are always of great interest and so this session is held at the end of the meeting to encourage full attendance through the end of the conference.