Ebook: Discoveries in Photosynthesis

"Life Is Bottled Sunshine" [Wynwood Reade, Martyrdom of Man, 1924]. This inspired phrase is a four-word summary of the significance of photosynthesis for life on earth. The study of photosynthesis has attracted the attention of a legion of biologists, biochemists, chemists and physicists for over 200 years. Discoveries in Photosynthesis presents a sweeping overview of the history of photosynthesis investigations, and detailed accounts of research progress in all aspects of the most complex bioenergetic process in living organisms. Conceived of as a way of summarizing the history of research advances in photosynthesis as of millennium 2000, the book evolved into a majestic and encyclopedic saga involving all of the basic sciences. The book contains 111 papers, authored by 132 scientists from 19 countries. It includes overviews; timelines; tributes; minireviews on excitation energy transfer, reaction centers, oxygen evolution, light-harvesting and pigment-protein complexes, electron transport and ATP synthesis, techniques and applications, biogenesis and membrane architecture, reductive and assimilatory processes, transport, regulation and adaptation, Genetics, and Evolution; laboratories and national perspectives; and retrospectives that end in a list of photosynthesis symposia, books and conferences. Informal and formal photographs of scientists make it a wonderful book to have. This book is meant not only for the researchers and graduate students, but also for advanced undergraduates in Plant Biology, Microbiology, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Biophysics and History of Science.

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"Life Is Bottled Sunshine" [Wynwood Reade, Martyrdom of Man, 1924]. This inspired phrase is a four-word summary of the significance of photosynthesis for life on earth. The study of photosynthesis has attracted the attention of a legion of biologists, biochemists, chemists and physicists for over 200 years. Discoveries in Photosynthesis presents a sweeping overview of the history of photosynthesis investigations, and detailed accounts of research progress in all aspects of the most complex bioenergetic process in living organisms. Conceived of as a way of summarizing the history of research advances in photosynthesis as of millennium 2000, the book evolved into a majestic and encyclopedic saga involving all of the basic sciences. The book contains 111 papers, authored by 132 scientists from 19 countries. It includes overviews; timelines; tributes; minireviews on excitation energy transfer, reaction centers, oxygen evolution, light-harvesting and pigment-protein complexes, electron transport and ATP synthesis, techniques and applications, biogenesis and membrane architecture, reductive and assimilatory processes, transport, regulation and adaptation, Genetics, and Evolution; laboratories and national perspectives; and retrospectives that end in a list of photosynthesis symposia, books and conferences. Informal and formal photographs of scientists make it a wonderful book to have. This book is meant not only for the researchers and graduate students, but also for advanced undergraduates in Plant Biology, Microbiology, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Biophysics and History of Science.

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"Life Is Bottled Sunshine" [Wynwood Reade, Martyrdom of Man, 1924]. This inspired phrase is a four-word summary of the significance of photosynthesis for life on earth. The study of photosynthesis has attracted the attention of a legion of biologists, biochemists, chemists and physicists for over 200 years. Discoveries in Photosynthesis presents a sweeping overview of the history of photosynthesis investigations, and detailed accounts of research progress in all aspects of the most complex bioenergetic process in living organisms. Conceived of as a way of summarizing the history of research advances in photosynthesis as of millennium 2000, the book evolved into a majestic and encyclopedic saga involving all of the basic sciences. The book contains 111 papers, authored by 132 scientists from 19 countries. It includes overviews; timelines; tributes; minireviews on excitation energy transfer, reaction centers, oxygen evolution, light-harvesting and pigment-protein complexes, electron transport and ATP synthesis, techniques and applications, biogenesis and membrane architecture, reductive and assimilatory processes, transport, regulation and adaptation, Genetics, and Evolution; laboratories and national perspectives; and retrospectives that end in a list of photosynthesis symposia, books and conferences. Informal and formal photographs of scientists make it a wonderful book to have. This book is meant not only for the researchers and graduate students, but also for advanced undergraduates in Plant Biology, Microbiology, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Biophysics and History of Science.

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xxxviii
Front Matter....Pages 1-3
Celebrating the millennium — historical highlights of photosynthesis research, Part 1....Pages 5-10
Celebrating the millennium — historical highlights of photosynthesis research, Part 2....Pages 11-21
Celebrating the millennium — historical highlights of photosynthesis research, Part 3....Pages 23-35
Front Matter....Pages 37-37
History of the word photosynthesis and evolution of its definition....Pages 39-42
In one era and out the other....Pages 43-50
Time line of discoveries: anoxygenic bacterial photosynthesis....Pages 51-62
Discoveries in oxygenic photosynthesis (1727–2003): a perspective....Pages 63-105
Front Matter....Pages 107-107
‘And whose bright presence’ — an appreciation of Robert Hill and his reaction....Pages 109-112
The contributions of James Franck to photosynthesis research: a tribute....Pages 113-118
Hydrogen metabolism of green algae: discovery and early research — a tribute to Hans Gaffron and his coworkers....Pages 119-129
Samuel Ruben’s contributions to research on photosynthesis and bacterial metabolism with radioactive carbon....Pages 131-137
Contributions of Henrik Lundeg?rdh....Pages 139-144
Front Matter....Pages 145-145
Photosynthetic exciton theory in the 1960s....Pages 147-154
Excitation energy trapping in anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria....Pages 155-163
Fluorescence lifetime, yield, energy transfer and spectrum in photosynthesis, 1950–1960....Pages 165-170
Visualization of excitation energy transfer processes in plants and algae....Pages 171-176
Plastoquinone redox control of chloroplast thylakoid protein phosphorylation and distribution of excitation energy between photosystems: discovery, background, implications....Pages 177-186
Excitation transfer between photosynthetic units: the 1964 experiment....Pages 187-191
Front Matter....Pages 193-193
Research on photosynthetic reaction centers from 1932 to 1987....Pages 195-203
Chlorophyll chemistry before and after crystals of photosynthetic reaction centers....Pages 205-212
Front Matter....Pages 193-193
Electron donors and acceptors in the initial steps of photosynthesis in purple bacteria: a personal account....Pages 213-224
My daily constitutional in Martinsried....Pages 225-231
The two-electron gate in photosynthetic bacteria....Pages 233-236
Steps on the way to building blocks, topologies, crystals and X-ray structural analysis of Photosystems I and II of water-oxidizing photosynthesis....Pages 238-259
The identification of the Photosystem II reaction center: a personal story....Pages 261-268
The isolated Photosystem II reaction center: first attempts to directly measure the kinetics of primary charge separation....Pages 269-274
Discovery of pheophytin function in the photosynthetic energy conversion as the primary electron acceptor of Photosystem II....Pages 275-281
Engine of life and big bang of evolution: a personal perspective....Pages 283-301
Role of bicarbonate at the acceptor side of Photosystem II....Pages 303-310
Unraveling the Photosystem I reaction center: a history, or the sum of many efforts....Pages 311-326
Photosystem I reaction center: past and future....Pages 327-340
P430: a retrospective, 1971–2001....Pages 341-348
Front Matter....Pages 349-349
Apparatus and mechanism of photosynthetic oxygen evolution: a personal perspective....Pages 351-370
Period-four oscillations of the flash-induced oxygen formation in photosynthesis....Pages 371-378
Period four oscillations in chlorophyll a fluorescence....Pages 379-382
Chloride and calcium in Photosystem II: from effects to enigma....Pages 383-389
The bicarbonate effect, oxygen evolution, and the shadow of Otto Warburg....Pages 391-397
Early indications for manganese oxidation state changes during photosynthetic oxygen production: a personal account....Pages 399-409
Front Matter....Pages 411-411
Purple bacterial light-harvesting complexes: from dreams to structures....Pages 413-419
The FMO protein....Pages 421-427
Front Matter....Pages 411-411
Physical separation of chlorophyll-protein complexes....Pages 429-434
How the chlorophyll-proteins got their names....Pages 435-442
Phycobiliproteins and phycobilisomes: the early observations....Pages 443-451
Front Matter....Pages 453-453
Discovery and characterization of electron transfer proteins in the photosynthetic bacteria....Pages 455-470
Membrane-anchored cytochrome c as an electron carrier in photosynthesis and respiration: past, present and future of an unexpected discovery....Pages 471-478
The Q-cycle — a personal perspective....Pages 479-499
Early research on the role of plastocyanin in photosynthesis....Pages 501-515
Irrungen, Wirrungen? The Mehler reaction in relation to cyclic electron transport in C3 plants....Pages 517-529
Photophosphorylation and the chemiosmotic perspective....Pages 531-542
Protons, proteins and ATP....Pages 543-549
On why thylakoids energize ATP formation using either delocalized or localized proton gradients — a Ca2+ mediated role in thylakoid stress responses....Pages 551-559
Front Matter....Pages 561-569
The stopped-flow method and chemical intermediates in enzyme reactions — a personal essay....Pages 573-595
The contribution of photosynthetic pigments to the development of biochemical separation methods: 1900–1980....Pages 597-615
On some aspects of photosynthesis revealed by photoacoustic studies: a critical evaluation....Pages 617-617
The history of photosynthetic thermoluminescence....Pages 621-632
Trails of green alga hydrogen research — from Hans Gaffron to new frontiers....Pages 633-640
Front Matter....Pages 641-649
Engineering the chloroplast encoded proteins of Chlamydomonas....Pages 651-663
Pictorial demonstrations of photosynthesis....Pages 665-680
Front Matter....Pages 681-689
Membrane biogenesis in anoxygenic photosynthetic prokaryotes....Pages 617-617
Chloroplast structure: from chlorophyll granules to supra-molecular architecture of thylakoid membranes....Pages 691-699
Changing concepts about the distribution of Photosystems I and II between grana-appressed and stroma-exposed thylakoid membranes....Pages 701-705
Chloroplasts in living cells and the string-of-grana concept of chloroplast structure revisited....Pages 707-707
From chloroplasts to chaperones: how one thing led to another....Pages 709-716
Front Matter....Pages 717-728
‘Every dogma has its day’: a personal look at carbon metabolism in photosynthetic bacteria....Pages 729-736
Research on carbon dioxide fixation in photosynthetic microorganisms (1971-present)....Pages 737-744
Nitrogen fixation by photosynthetic bacteria....Pages 745-755
Following the path of carbon in photosynthesis: a personal story....Pages 757-759
Mapping the carbon reduction cycle: a personal retrospective....Pages 761-769
Chloroplasts in envelopes: CO2 fixation by fully functional intact chloroplasts....Pages 771-788
Along the trail from Fraction I protein to Rubisco (ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase)....Pages 789-792
The discovery of Rubisco activase — yet another story of serendipity....Pages 795-813
The ferredoxin/thioredoxin system: from discovery to molecular structures and beyond....Pages 817-832
How is ferredoxin-NADP reductase involved in the NADP photoreduction of chloroplasts?....Pages 833-841
C4 photosynthesis: discovery and resolution....Pages 843-850
Crassulacean acid metabolism photosynthesis: ‘working the night shift’....Pages 851-858
Front Matter....Pages 859-866
Three decades in transport business: studies of metabolite transport in chloroplasts — a personal perspective....Pages 867-873
Front Matter....Pages 875-880
The present model for chlororespiration....Pages 881-893
Affixing the O to Rubisco: discovering the source of photorespiratory glycolate and its regulation....Pages 895-895
Linking the xanthophyll cycle with thermal energy dissipation....Pages 897-904
Photoinhibition — a historical perspective....Pages 895-895
A molecular understanding of complementary chromatic adaptation....Pages 905-909
Anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria from extreme environments....Pages 911-921
Light-induced behavioral responses (‘phototaxis’) in prokaryotes....Pages 923-930
Front Matter....Pages 931-958
The early history of the genetics of photosynthetic bacteria: a personal account....Pages 959-967
Photosynthesis genes and their expression in Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1: a tribute to my students and associates....Pages 969-983
Photosynthesis research: advances through molecular biology — the beginnings, 1975–1980s and on. . .....Pages 985-995
The three genomes of Chlamydomonas....Pages 997-997
History of chloroplast genomics....Pages 999-1002
Gene-targeted and site-directed mutagenesis of photosynthesis genes in cyanobacteria....Pages 1003-1016
Front Matter....Pages 1017-1024
Thinking about the evolution of photosynthesis....Pages 1027-1045
Evolutionary relationships among photosynthetic bacteria....Pages 1047-1055
On the natural selection and evolution of the aerobic phototrophic bacteria....Pages 1057-1063
Prochlorophyta — a matter of class distinctions....Pages 1065-1070
The archaeal concept and the world it lives in: a retrospective....Pages 1071-1071
Front Matter....Pages 1073-1086
The Laboratory of Photosynthesis and its successors at Gif-sur-Yvette, France....Pages 1087-1097
Front Matter....Pages 1099-1104
Photosynthesis and the Charles F. Kettering Research Laboratory....Pages 1105-1107
Chlorophyll isolation, structure and function: major landmarks of the early history of research in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union....Pages 1111-1120
Studies of chlorophyll biosynthesis in Russia....Pages 1121-1121
The beginnings of research on biophysics of photosynthesis and initial contributions made by Russian scientists to its development....Pages 1123-1131
Photosynthesis research in Greece: a historical snapshot (1960–2001)....Pages 1121-1121
Photosynthesis research in India: transition from yield physiology into molecular biology....Pages 1133-1142
Photosynthesis research in the People’s Republic of China....Pages 1143-1157
Front Matter....Pages 1159-1165
A list of personal perspectives with selected quotations, along with lists of tributes, historical notes, Nobel and Kettering awards related to photosynthesis....Pages 1167-1180
Passage of a young Indian physical chemist through the world of photosynthesis research at Urbana, Illinois, in the 1960s: a personal essay....Pages 1181-1187
The conference at Airlie House in 1963....Pages 1189-1204
A list of photosynthesis conferences and of edited books in photosynthesis....Pages 1205-1212
Back Matter....Pages 1213-1217
....Pages 1219-1228