Setting the science; C4 rice fron theory to practice; Single-cell c4 systems; The background and how C4 rice can be delivered; Setting up the consortium.

The photosynthetic fixation of carbon dioxide into organic compounds is mediated by the enzyme ribulose 1,S-bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylase. The diversity of current research on this protein attests to its central role in biomass productivity, and suggests the importance of a timely and broadly based review. This Symposium was the first devoted exclusively to RuBP carboxylase and was attended by agronomists, plant physiologists, biochemists, molecular biologists, and crystallographers. Special efforts were made to involve young scientists in addition to established investigators. It is a pleasure to acknowledge financial support provided by the Department of Energy, the United States Department of Agricul ture, and the National Science Foundation, and the valued assistance of agency representatives, Drs. Joe Key, Robert Rabson, Elijah Romanoff, and Donald Senich. Thanks are due to Mrs. Margaret Dienes, without whose editorial skills this volume could not have been produced, and to Mrs. Helen Kondratuk as Symposium Coordinator. Finally, we wish to record our indebtedness to Dr. Alexander Hollaender for his tireless efforts in support of all aspects of this Symposium.

Harnessing evolution for more sustainable agriculture As human populations grow and resources are depleted, agriculture will need to use land, water, and other resources more efficiently and without sacrificing long-term sustainability. Darwinian Agriculture presents an entirely new approach to these challenges, one that draws on the principles of evolution and natural selection. R. Ford Denison shows how both biotechnology and traditional plant breeding can use Darwinian insights to identify promising routes for crop genetic improvement and avoid costly dead ends. Denison explains why plant traits that have been genetically optimized by individual selection—such as photosynthesis and drought tolerance—are bad candidates for genetic improvement. Traits like plant height and leaf angle, which determine the collective performance of plant communities, offer more room for improvement. Agriculturalists can also benefit from more sophisticated comparisons among natural communities and from the study of wild species in the landscapes where they evolved. Darwinian Agriculture reveals why it is sometimes better to slow or even reverse evolutionary trends when they are inconsistent with our present goals, and how we can glean new ideas from natural selection's marvelous innovations in wild species.

The last 30 years has seen the development of increasingly sophisticated models that quantify canopy carbon exchange. These models are now essential parts of larger models for prediction and simulation of crop production, climate change, and regional and global carbon dynamics. There is thus an urgent need for increasing expertise in developing, use and understanding of these models. This in turn calls for an advanced, yet easily accessible textbook that summarizes the “canopy science” and introduces the present and the future scientists to the theoretical background of the current canopy models. This book presents current knowledge of functioning of plant canopies, models and strategies employed to simulate canopy function, and the significance of canopy architecture, physiology and dynamics in ecosystems, landscape and biosphere.

Increasing concerns of global climatic change have stimulated research in all aspects of carbon exchange. This has restored interest in leaf-photosynthetic models to predict and assess changes in photosynthetic CO2 assimilation in different environments. This is a comprehensive presentation of the most widely used models of steady-state photosynthesis by an author who is a world authority. Treatments of C3, C4 and intermediate pathways of photosynthesis in relation to environment have been updated to include work on antisense transgenic plants. It will be a standard reference for the formal analysis of photosynthetic metabolism in vivo by advanced students and researchers.

Section 1. Setting the scene. How the rice crop works and why it needs a new engine / J.E. Sheehy [und weitere]. The case for C[symbol] rice / P.L. Mitchell and J.E. Sheehy. Agricultural research, poverty alleviation, and key trends in Asia's rice economy / D. Dawe. Catching up with the literature for C[symbol] rice: what we know now and didn't then / P.L. Mitchell -- section 2. C[symbol] rice from theory to practice. C[symbol] photosynthesis: minor or major adjustments to a C[symbol] theme? / R.C. Leegood. C[symbol] photosynthesis and CO[symbol] diffusion / S. von Caemmerer [und weiteren]. Nuclear regulation of chloroplast development in C[symbol] and C[symbol] plants / J.A. Langdale [und weiteren]. Balancing light capture with distributed metabolic demand during C4 photosynthesis / J.R. Evans, T.C. Vogelmann, and S. von Caemmerer. Redesigning C[symbol] rice from limited C[symbol] photosynthesis / D.M. Jiao. Overexpression of C[symbol] pathway genes in the C[symbol] dicots potato, tobacco, and arabidopsis: experiences and future challenges / C. Peterhänsel, H.-J. Hirsch, and F. Kreuzaler. Molecular evolution of C[symbol] photosynthesis in the dicot genus flaveria: implications for the design of a C[symbol] plant / U. Gowik and P. Westhoff. Learning from nature to develop strategies for the directed evolution of C[symbol] rice / R. Sage and T.L. Sage. The regulation of genes in C[symbol] plants that have been co-opted into C[symbol] photosynthesis, and implications for making a C[symbol] rice / J.M. Hibberd -- section 3. Single-cell C[symbol] systems. C[symbol] rice: early endeavors and models tested / J. Burnell. Breaking the Kranz paradigm in terrestrial C[symbol] plants: does it hold promise for C[symbol] rice? / G.E. Edwards [und weiteren]. Hydrilla: retrofitting a C[symbol] leaf with a single-cell C[symbol] NADP-ME system / G. Bowes [und weiteren]. The ecology and evolution of single-cell C[symbol]-like photosynthesis in diatoms: relevance to C[symbol] rice / J.A. Raven [und weiteren] -- section 4. The background and how C[symbol] rice can be delivered. The promise of systems biology for deciphering the control of C[symbol] leaf development: transcriptome profiling of leaf cell types / T. Nelson [und weiteren]. Toward C[symbol] rice: learning from the acclimation of photosynthesis in the C[symbol] leaf / E.H. Murchie and P. Horton. Wild species of Oryza: a rich reservoir of genetic variability for rice improvement / D.S. Brar and J.M. Ramos. C[symbol] rice: a plant breeder's perspective / P.S. Virk and S. Peng. From allele engineering to phenotype / P. Hervé -- section 5. Setting up the consortium. C[symbol] rice: brainstorming from bioinformaticians / R. Bruskiewich and S. Wanchana. Surveying the possible pathways to C[symbol] rice / P.L. Mitchell and J.E. Sheehy