The chloroplast : from molecular biology to biotechnology : [proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on ..., Kolymbari-Chania, Crete, Greece, 1998

From August 10 to August 15, 1998, an international Advanced Research Workshop-Lecture Course on The chloroplast: from Molecular Biology to Biotechnology was held at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, Kolymbari-Chania, on the island of Crete, Greece. After five previous meetings on the chloroplast topic in Marburg (1975), Spetses (1978), Rhodos (1985), Aghia Pelaghia, Crete (1991) and Marburg (1995) this conference proved again that chloroplast research is continuously in the focus of intensive research interest. The meeting, sponsored by NATO and supported by the Federation of the European Societies for Plant Physiology (FESPP) and the Greek Ministry of Development (General Secretariat of Research and Development), was held under the auspices of the International Society for Chloroplast Development and the National Center for Scientific Research "Demokritos", Athens-Greece. Aim of the workshop was to bring together experts and students from different disciplines, coming from various countries around the world, studying chloroplast biogenesis from different perspectives in an effort to propose biotechnological approaches, via genetic manipulation of the organelle, applicable in solving problems of economic importance. Ninety scientists (including observers) coming from 19 countries actively participated and discussed recent advances in the field. During the meeting it became clear that as a result of the progress made in molecular biology, including genomic sequence, and in biochemistry over recent years, this exciting field of chloroplast development is continuously promoted by renewed interest in as yet unsolved but very important questions. Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Dinoflagellate Light-Harvesting Proteins: Genes, Structure and Reconstitution....Pages 3-10 Organisation of the Photosystem Two Light Harvesting System....Pages 11-18 Three-Dimensional Structure of Photosystem I....Pages 19-26 Organization and Function of Photosystem I Trimers and Monomers of the Cyanobacterium Spirulina Platensis ....Pages 27-34 Progress in the Crystallization of Photosystem II Components....Pages 35-40 The Photosynthetic Apparatus of Prochloron -Like Cyanobacteria....Pages 41-46 Phycobilisome-To-Photosystem I Excitation Transfer is Enhanced in Water-Depleted Cells and Depressed in Water-Replete Cells of Cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC7942....Pages 47-54 Structural-Functional Organization of Thylakoids in Developing Chloroplasts....Pages 55-60 Front Matter....Pages 61-61 The Chloroplast: Part of the Integrated Genetic System of the Plant Cell....Pages 63-72 Phage-Type RNA Polymerases in Higher Plants....Pages 73-78 Novel in Vitro Transcription Assay Indicates that the ACC D Nep Promoter is Contained in a 19 BP Fragment....Pages 79-84 Polyadenylation and Degradation of mRNA in the Chloroplast....Pages 85-90 DNA-Binding Proteins of Chloroplast Nucleoids....Pages 91-96 Pigment-Protein Complexes, Plastid Development and Photooxidative Protection....Pages 97-102 Small Cab-Like Proteins: Relatives to the Chlorophyll A/B Binding Proteins in Cyanobacteria....Pages 103-106 High-Light Induced Proteins HL#2 of Barley are Exported to the Apoplast....Pages 107-112 Expression of rbcS , rbcL and rca Genes during Senescence and Regreening of Zantedeschia Aethiopica Floral Spathe....Pages 113-116 Expression of Glutathione Peroxidase during Zantedeschia Aethiopica Spathe Senescence and Regreening....Pages 117-120 Molecular Effects of Some Stress Factors on the Chloroplast Genetic Apparatus of the Flagellate Euglena gracilis ....Pages 121-128 Front Matter....Pages 129-129 Protein Import Across Chloroplast Envelopes....Pages 131-136 Front Matter....Pages 129-129 Characterization of the Arabidopsis PPI1 Mutant....Pages 137-142 Isolation and Characterization of Chlamydomonas Mutants Deficient in the Plastid YCF10 Open Reading Frame....Pages 143-148 Structure and Function of Cema Homologue (PXCA) in Cyanobacteria....Pages 149-154 Import and Processing of E. Coli Expressed Polyphenol Oxidase by Isolated Chloroplasts....Pages 155-160 The Role of the Envelope in Assembly of Light-Harvesting Complexes in the Chloroplast: Distribution of Lhcp between Chloroplast and Vacuoles during Chloroplast Development in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii ....Pages 161-166 Characterization of the Plastid Import Reaction of the Pea Nadph: Protochlorophyllide Oxidoreductase (POR).....Pages 167-170 Tocopherol Biosynthesis in Senescing Chloroplasts - A Mechanism to Protect Envelope Membranes against Oxidative Stress and a Prerequisite for Lipid Remobilization ?....Pages 171-176 Front Matter....Pages 177-177 The Effect of Light on the Biosynthesis and Function of Nadph-Protochlorophyllide Oxidoreductases (PORs) A and B in Seedlings of Arabidopsis Thaliana and Hordeum Vulgare ....Pages 179-184 Redox Reactions in the Last Steps of Chlorophyll Biosynthesis....Pages 185-190 Cofactor Requirement of the Enzymatic Reduction of Chlorophyll B to Chlorophyll A ....Pages 191-194 Effects of Nuclear y Mutations on Expression of Plastid Genes Required for Light-Independent Chlorophyll Formation in Chlamydomonas ....Pages 195-200 Can Psilotum and/or Gnetum Synthesise Chlorophyll in Darkness?....Pages 201-205 Protochlorophyllide and Por in the Lip1 Mutant of Pea....Pages 207-212 Subtrate Specificity of Overexpressed Bacteriochlorophyll Synthase from Chloroflexus Aurantiacus ....Pages 213-216 Carotenoids in Higher Plants and Algae....Pages 217-223 Front Matter....Pages 225-225 Abundance of Photosystem I Proteins in Cyanobacteria and Chloroplasts....Pages 227-232 De Novo Synthesis of Chlorophyll a Triggers Assembly of Reaction Centers in Barley Etioplasts....Pages 233-236 Reconstitution of Co-Translational Targeting of Polytopic Membrane Proteins to the Thylakoids in a Homologous Chloroplast Translation System....Pages 237-242 Aggregational States of in Vitro Synthesized D1 and D2 Proteins....Pages 243-246 The Abundance of Cab and psbA Transcripts and of Their Products in Greening Etiolated Leaves Transferred to Darkness....Pages 247-252 Front Matter....Pages 225-225 Chlorophyll-Binding Proteins in Cyanobacteria....Pages 253-258 Molecular Cloning and Characterization of ClpX, a Potential Regulator of Chloroplastic Clp Protease....Pages 259-264 Light Stress-Activated Proteases in the Thylakoid Lumen....Pages 265-270 The Carboxyl-Terminal Processing of Precursor D1 Protein of Photosystem II Reaction Center by a Nuclear-Encoded Protease (CtpA)....Pages 271-276 Proteolytic Mechanism in Lhcii Stabilization....Pages 277-282 The Regulatory Role of Polyamines on the Structural and Functional Photoadaptation of the Photosynthetic Apparatus....Pages 283-286 Alterations in the Plastid Membrane-Associated Polyamines during Chloroplast Photodevelopment....Pages 287-290 Chlorophyll Fluorescence Kinetic Depends on Age of Leaves and Plants....Pages 291-296 Successive Degradation of the Light-Harvesting System of the Photosynthetic Apparatus during Senescence of Barley Flag Leaves....Pages 297-302 Front Matter....Pages 303-303 Membrane Proteins of Photosynthesis: Structure - Function - Biotechnology....Pages 305-310 tRNA Glu Mediated δ-Aminolevulinate Biosynthesis and Biotechnology....Pages 311-315 A Transgenic Approach to Characterize the Plastid Transcription Machinery in Higher Plants....Pages 317-323 Structure and Function of the Photosynthetic Apparatus in Transgenic Tobacco....Pages 325-330 Light, Temperature and Redox Control of the Development of the Photosynthetic Apparatus....Pages 331-336 Influence of a CO 2 -Partial Pressure of 700 PPM on the Lipid and Fatty Acid Composition of Higher Plants....Pages 337-342 The Stabilizing Effect of Glycine Betaine on the Modified Photosystem II Particles under Heat Stress....Pages 343-346 Application of Thylakoids in Herbicide-Detecting System....Pages 347-350 Back Matter....Pages 351-356

The most recent advances in chloroplast research are highlighted in contributions from 50 laboratories throughout the world. Subjects include advances in determining the molecular structure of key photosynthetic proteins, the regulation of chloroplast gene expression, the role of the chloroplast envelope membrane in the biogenesis of the organelle and the import machinery of nuclear encoded chloroplast proteins, the regulatory steps in chlorophyll and carotenoid biosyntheses, the processing/targeting/assembly of thylakoid protein components of photosynthetic units, and a discussion of the potential of chloroplast genetic manipulation as a tool in biotechnological applications.
Audience: Students and researchers studying photosynthesis and chloroplast molecular biology and development.

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Contains nearly 60 papers from the August 1998 workshop in Kolymbari- Chania, Crete, where scientists and students from various fields shared perspectives on chloroplast biogenesis and biotechnological approaches to solving problems of economic importance, particularly in agriculture. They cover the three-dimensional structure of the photosynthetic units and their components; the regulation of gene expression; the role of the chloroplast envelope membrane in chloroplast biogenesis and the import of nuclear-encoded chloroplast proteins in the plastid; the regulatory mechanism in pigment biosynthesis and in the synthesis, assembly, and turnover of the photosynthetic units; and the genetic manipulation of the organelle as a tool for biotechnological applications. Reproduced from typescripts, some double spaced. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)