时间:2012年6月26日 星期二 上午10:40
地点:球盟会(中国)重点实验室楼8楼学术报告厅
报告专家:Dr. Wendy M. Schluchter
报告题目: Biosynthesis of the light-harvesting phycobiliproteins in cyanobacteria
专家简介:
Dr. Wendy M. Schluchter
Professor and Chair
Department of Biological Sciences
The University of New Orleans
RESEARCH INTERESTS
? Light-harvesting protein biosynthesis in cyanobacteria
? Photosynthesis
? Microbial physiology
? Microbial biotechnology
? Microbial diversity
Cyanobacteria are a morphologically and developmentally diverse group of prokaryotes whose light harvesting structures called phycobilisomes are very similar to those found in red algal chloroplasts in structure and function, but quite distinct from higher plant light harvesting systems. Cyanobacteria are important contributors to many ecosystems and have been used as a model system to study photosynthesis, because they have fast growth rates, the genome sequences of many cyanobacteria have been completed and the genetic systems for many strains have been developed. Cyanobacteria alter the composition of their phycobilisomes in response to light intensity, light quality, and nutrient availability. Their phycobilisomes (PBS) are composed primarily of phycobiliproteins (PBP). Phycobiliproteins range in color from yellow to red to purple to blue, depending upon which of a combination of four possible chromophores called bilins are covalently attached to these proteins. The long-term goal of Dr. Schluchter's research project is to understand how the cyanobacterial light-harvesting phycobiliproteins and their chromophores are synthesized, the order that these post-translational modifications occur, and how the phycobilisome is assembled.