Structure and function of the components of the photosynthetic apparatus and the molecular biology of these components have become the dominant themes in advances in our understanding of the light reactions of oxygenic photosynthesis. Oxygenic Photosynthesis: The Light Reactions presents our current understanding of these reactions in thylakoid membranes. Topics covered include the photosystems, the cytochrome b6-f complex, plastocyanin, ferredoxin, FNR, light-harvesting complexes, and the coupling factor. Chapters are also devoted to the structure of thylakoid membranes, their lipid composition, and their biogenesis. Updates on the crystal structures of cytochrome f, ATP synthase and photosystem I are presented and a section on molecular biology and evolution of the photosynthetic apparatus is also included. The chapters in this book provide a comprehensive overview of photosynthetic reactions in eukaryotic thylakoids. The book is intended for a wide audience, including graduate students and researchers active in this field, as well as those individuals who have interests in plant biochemistry and molecular biology or plant physiology.

Structure and function of the components of the photosynthetic apparatus and the molecular biology of these components have become the dominant themes in advances in our understanding of the light reactions of oxygenic photosynthesis. Oxygenic Photosynthesis: The Light Reactions presents our current understanding of these reactions in thylakoid membranes. Topics covered include the photosystems, the cytochrome b6-f complex, plastocyanin, ferredoxin, FNR, light-harvesting complexes, and the coupling factor. Chapters are also devoted to the structure of thylakoid membranes, their lipid composition, and their biogenesis. Updates on the crystal structures of cytochrome f, ATP synthase and photosystem I are presented and a section on molecular biology and evolution of the photosynthetic apparatus is also included. The chapters in this book provide a comprehensive overview of photosynthetic reactions in eukaryotic thylakoids. The book is intended for a wide audience, including graduate students and researchers active in this field, as well as those individuals who have interests in plant biochemistry and molecular biology or plant physiology.

Photosynthesis: Photobiochemistry and Photobiophysics is the first single-authored book in the Advances in Photosynthesis Series. It provides an overview of the light reactions and electron transfers in both oxygenic and anoxygenic photosynthesis. The scope of the book is characterized by the time frame in which the light reactions and the subsequent electron transfers take place, namely between =10sup-12/sup and =10-3 second. The book is divided into five parts: An Overview; Bacterial Photosynthesis; Photosystem II & Oxygen Evolution; Photosystem I; and Proton Transport and Photophosphorylation. In discussing the structure and function of various protein complexes, we begin with an introductory chapter, followed by chapters on light-harvesting complexes, the primary electron donors and the primary electron acceptors, and finally the secondary electron donors. The discussion on electron acceptors is presented in the order of their discovery to convey a sense of history, in parallel with the advancement in instrumentation of increasing time resolution. The book includes a large number of stereo pictures showing the three-dimensional structure of various photosynthetic proteins, which can be easily viewed with unaided eyes. This book is designed to be used as a textbook in a graduate or upper-division undergraduate course in photosynthesis, photobiology, plant physiology, biochemistry, and biophysics; it is equally suitable as a resource book for students, teachers, and researchers in the areas of molecular and cellular biology, integrative biology, microbiology, and plant biology.

Photobiology is an important area of biological research since a very large number of living processes are either dependent on or governed by light that we receive from the Sun. Among various subjects, photosynthesis is one of the most important, and thus a popular topic in both molecular and organismic biology, and one which has made a considerable impact throughout the world since almost all life on Earth depends upon it as a source of food, fuel and oxygen. However, for growth of plants, light is equally essential, and research on photomorphogenesis has revealed exciting new developments with the application of newer molecular biological approaches. The present book brings together and integrates various aspects of photosynthesis, biology of pigments, light regulation of chloroplast development, nuclear and chloroplast gene expression, light signal transduction, other photomorphogenetic processes and some photoecological aspects under one cover. The chapters cover biochemical and molecular discussions of most of the above topics in a comprehensive manner and include a wide range of `hot topics' that are currently under investigation in the field of photobiology of cyanobacteria, algae and plants. The authors of this book are selected international authorities in their fields from USA, Europe, Australia and Asia. The book is designed primarily to be used as a text book by graduates and post-graduates. It is, however, also intended to be a resource book for new researchers in plant photobiology. Several introductory chapters are designed as suitable reading for undergraduate courses in integrative and molecular biology, biochemistry and biophysics.

This book is a tribute to three outstanding scientists, Professors Jan Anderson FRS, Leslie Dutton FRS and John Walker FRS, Nobel Laureate. Covering some of the most recent advances in the fields of Bioenergetics and Photosynthesis, this book is a compilation of contributions from leading scientists actively involved in understanding the natural biological processes associated with the flow of energy in biological cells. The lectures found in this significant volume were presented at a meeting in March 2016 in Singapore to commemorate the outstanding research in this area.The contents begin with the ideas, specially the contribution from Nobel Laureate Rudolph Marcus, who is well-known for creating the theory of electron transport reactions. This is followed by contributions of many others on various aspects of respiratory and photosynthetic transport chains as well as the dynamic regulation of light harvesting and electron transport events in oxygenic photosynthesis. The book is highly recommended to postgraduate students and researchers who are interested in various aspects of bioenergetic cycles.

Chlorophyll a Fluorescence: A Signature of Photosynthesis highlights chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence as a convenient, non-invasive, highly sensitive, rapid and quantitative probe of oxygenic photosynthesis. Thirty-one chapters, authored by 58 international experts, provide a solid foundation of the basic theory, as well as of the application of the rich information contained in the Chl a fluorescence signal as it relates to photosynthesis and plant productivity. Although the primary photochemical reactions of photosynthesis are highly efficient, a small fraction of absorbed photons escapes as Chl fluorescence, and this fraction varies with metabolic state, providing a basis for monitoring quantitatively various processes of photosynthesis. The book explains the mechanisms with which plants defend themselves against environmental stresses (excessive light, extreme temperatures, drought, hyper-osmolarity, heavy metals and UV). It also includes discussion on fluorescence imaging of leaves and cells and the remote sensing of Chl fluorescence from terrestrial, airborne, and satellite bases. The book is intended for use by graduate students, beginning researchers and advanced undergraduates in the areas of integrative plant biology, cellular and molecular biology, plant biology, biochemistry, biophysics, plant physiology, global ecology and agriculture.

Four decades ago, when Lou Duysens was about to start his work on fluo rescence and energy transfer in photosynthesis that would lead to his thesis [1], very little was known about the molecular mechanisms of photosyn thesis, certainly from our present-day point of view. However, this state of affairs would rapidly change in the ensuing years by the introduction of modern physical and biochemical techniques. Especially the field of optical spectroscopy, on which the work of Duysens had such a significant impact, has proved to be one of the most fruitful techniques in the study of primary processes and electron transfer reactions in photosynthesis. Duysens' thesis established the role of energy transfer in photosynthesis and also showed for the first time the existence in photosynthetic bacteria of light-induced absorbance changes of what is now known as the primary electron donor P-870. Subsequent studies by the same method demonstrated the photo-oxidation of cytochromes, both in bacteria [2] and in algae [3,4] and of the absorbance changes [3] that were later found to be due to electro chromic band shifts of antenna pigments. Measurements of cyto chrome kinetics in light of various wavelengths led to the concept of two photosystems in green plant photosynthesis [5], whereas a study of the factors affecting the fluorescence yield of chlorophyll gave the first infor mation on the electron acceptor Q of photo system II [6].

"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.

This landmark collective work introduces the physical, chemical, and biological principles underlying photosynthesis: light absorption, excitation energy transfer, and charge separation. It begins with an introduction to properties of various pigments, and the pigment proteins in plant, algae, and bacterial systems. It addresses the underlying physics of light harvesting and key spectroscopic methods, including data analysis. It discusses assembly of the natural system, its energy transfer properties, and regulatory mechanisms. It also addresses light-harvesting in artificial systems and the impact of photosynthesis on our environment. The chapter authors are amongst the field’s world recognized experts. Chapters are divided into five main parts, the first focused on pigments, their properties and biosynthesis, and the second section looking at photosynthetic proteins, including light harvesting in higher plants, algae, cyanobacteria, and green bacteria. The third part turns to energy transfer and electron transport, discussing modeling approaches, quantum aspects, photoinduced electron transfer, and redox potential modulation, followed by a section on experimental spectroscopy in light harvesting research. The concluding final section includes chapters on artificial photosynthesis, with topics such as use of cyanobacteria and algae for sustainable energy production. Robert Croce is Head of the Biophysics Group and full professor in biophysics of photosynthesis/energy at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. Rienk van Grondelle is full professor at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. Herbert van Amerongen is full professor of biophysics in the Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences at Wageningen University, where he is also director of the MicroSpectroscopy Research Facility. Ivo van Stokkum is associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Sciences, at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.