Probing Photosynthesis

A thorough understanding of the mechanisms of photosynthesis, regulation of structure and function and the adaptive strategies of oxygenic photosynthetic organisms is central to any effort directed at improving crop productivity and providing sustainable agriculture. Photosynthesis is the most widely researched topic in plant science. Further probing of its mechanisms, regulation and adaptation, employing a variety of modern tools and techniques, is imperative to gain a better insight of this very intricate process. Unravelling the cause of stress impairments and stress tolerance in plants would help in ensuring the optimum production of food, fibres and fuels. Probing Photosynthesis represents the state-of-the-art on photosynthesis and provides details of experimental approaches that have been adopted to understand the complex regulatory and adaptive processes. Its twenty seven chapters have been divided into four sections: Evolution, structure and function; Biodiversity metabolism and regulation; Stress and adaptations; and Techniques. With contributions from leading subject experts from Australia, Canada, France, Germnay, India, Israel, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and USA, this comprehensive treatise shall interest researchers and students from all disciplines of plant science and provide a useful reference for courses in plant biochemistry, crop physiology, plant biotechnology and environmental botany.

Represents the state-of-the-art on photosynthesis. Provides details of experimental approaches that have been adopted to understand the complex regulatory and adaptive processes.

1. Milestones in Photosynthesis Govindjee 2. Natural oxygenic and anoxygenic photosynthesis based on newly found chlorophylls Shigeru Itoh and Masayo Iwaki 3. Light-harvesting antennas in plants Stephen M. Gomez and Parag R. Chitnis 4. Stalk, no stalk or double stalk? Experimental strategies, results and speculations on CF1CF0 interactions with photosynthetic ATP synthase R. J. Berzborn 5. Energy transduction on the Z-scheme Gunter Hauska and Matthias Arnold 6. Chloroplast thylakoid membranes: a paradigm for biogenetic and evolutionary complexity Reinhold G. Herrmann and Rainer M. Maier 7. The manganese cluster in photosystem II, investigated by EPR spectroscopy K.A. Ahrling and S. Styring 8. Diversity in photosynthesis D.O. Hall 9. C3/C4 Carbon metabolism and regulation in higher plants Randhir Singh 10. Ribulose 1, 5-bisphosphate-carboxylase/oxygenase: activation and regulation A.S. Bhagwat 11. Molecular aspects of Rubisco specificity G.F. Wildner 12. CAM photosynthesis: ecophysiological and molecular strategies for survival A. Ramachandra Reddy and V.S. Rama Das 13. Photorespiration and interaction between chloroplast, mitochondria and peroxisomes K. Padmasree and A.S. Raghavendra 14. Photosynthesis in relation to crop productivity Renu Khanna-Chopra 15. Strategies of photosynthetic adaptations and acclimation Jan M. Anderson 16. Photoinactivation of the two photosystems in oxygenic photosynthesis-mechanisms and regulations I. Ohad, K. Sonoike, and B. Andersson 17. State transitions in cyanobacteria P. Dominy and C. Mullineaux 18. Light-regulated expression of photosynthesis related genes A.K. Tyagi, A. Dhingra and S. Raghuvanshi 19. Photosynthetic productivity prospects under CO2-enriched atmosphere of the 21st century A.R. Reddy and A. Gnanam 20. Molecular targets of UV-B radiation in the photosynthetic membranes G. Kulandaivelu and K. Lingakumar 21. Photosynthetic adaptation to nutrient stress I.M. Rao and N. Terry 22. Water stress responsive proteins/genes in crop plants Anil Grover 23. Applications of mass spectrometry to the study of photosystem two J. Barber and J. Sharma 24. The structure and function of photosynthetic apparatus studied by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy H. Zhang, H.A. Tajmir-Riahi and R. Carpentier 25. The fluorescence transient as a tool to characterise and screen photosynthetic samples R. J. Strasser, A. Srivastava and A. Tsimilli-Michael 26. The photoacoustic effect in leaves and its applications S. Malkin 27. Common errors in gas exchange measurements D.K. McDermitt, R.L. Garcia, J.M. Welles and T.H. Demetriades-Shah Anderson, Australian National University, Bertil Andersson, Stockholm University, Sweden, M. Arnold, Institut für Botanik der Universität Regensburg, Germany, James Barber, Imperial College of Science, London, UK, Richard J. Berzborn, Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Germany, A.S. Bhagwat, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India, R. Carpentier, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Canada, Parag R. Chitnis, Iowa State University, USA, Tanvir Demetriades-Shah, LI-COR Inc. Lincoln, USA, Peter Dominy, University of Glasgow, UK, A. Dhingra, University of Delhi South Campus, India, , Richard L.Garcia, LI-COR, Inc., Lincoln, USA, A. Gnanam, Pondicherry University, India, S. M. Gómez, UCLA, USA, Govindjee, University of Illinois, USA, Anil Grover, University of Delhi, India, David O. Hall, King's College London, UK, Guenter Hauska, Universität Regensburg, Germany, R. G. Herrmann, Botanisches Institut der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany, Shigeru Itoh, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki, Japan, Masayo, Iwaki, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki, Japan, Renu, Khanna-Chopra, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India, G. Kulandaivelu, Madurai Kamaraj University, India, K. Lingakumar, Madurai Kamaraj University, India, Stephen P. Long, University of Illinois, USA, R. M. Maier, Botanisches Institut der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany, Shmuel Malkin, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, Dayle K. McDermitt, LI-COR Inc., Lincoln, USA, H. R. Morris, Imperial College of Science, London, UK, C. Mullineaux, University College London, UK, Itzhak Ohad, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, K. Padmasree, University of Hyderabad, India, M. Panico, Imperial College of Science, London, UK, A.S. Raghavendra, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India S. Raghuvanshi, University of Delhi, India V.S. Ramadas, University of Hyderabad, India, Idupulapati M. Rao, International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Cali, Colombia, A.R. Reddy, Pondicherry University, India, J. Sharma, Imperial College of Science, London, UK, R. Singh, CCS Haryana Agriculture University, Haryana, India, S.K. Sinha, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India Kintake Sonoike, University of Tokyo Bunkyo-ku, Japan, Alaka Srivastava, University of Geneva, Switzerland, Reto J. Strasser, University of Geneva, Switzerland, Stenbjörn Styring, Lund University, Sweden, Heidar Ali Tajmir-Riahi, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Canada Norman Terry, University of California, USA, A. Tsimilli-Michael, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, A. K. Tyagi, University of Delhi South Campus, New Delhi, India, Jon M. Welles, LI-COR Inc, Lincoln, USA, Gunter Wildner, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, Germany, H. Zhang, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada.