U.S.-Japan Joint Seminar: Microbial and Plant Metabolism--Function through Genomics

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

0137409 Sherman This award supports the participation of American scientists in a U.S.-Japan seminar on microbial and plant metabolism--function through genomics to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii from November 22-26, 2002. The co-organizers are Professor Louis Sherman of Purdue University in Indiana and Professor Yuichiro Takahashi of Okayama University in Japan. The meeting will cover the extraordinary progress that has been made in the last two years in sequencing of the genomes of photosynthetic microbes, especially cyanobacteria. Over one dozen strains will have been sequenced by the meeting and this will lead to a wide array of new findings in many different disciplines and also in our understanding of gene regulation. Two of the newly sequenced organisms include Prochlorococcus strains that are of tremendous importance in the open ocean and may be the most abundant photosynthetic organisms on the planet. Two others are N2-fixing strains that will provide a tremendous opportunity to analyze N2 fixation, heterocyst development and the way in which these processes are regulated. The significance of the science to be discussed at this meeting is quite wide-ranging. The cyanobacteria and the other photosynthetic phototrophs have become among the most important of all model organisms and that a multitude of important problems for the biosphere can be studied through these organisms. This meeting will represent a timely opportunity for the major participants in this broad field of genomics to discuss their results, discuss the successes and the difficulties of recent work and focus on future directions. Younger members of the community will be invited into the international collaboration and hopefully maintain research collaborations throughout their careers. Most importantly, cyanobacteria represent one of the best and most advanced model systems for understanding the functionality of each protein in a cell. Results obtained from this photosynthetic microbe will be of great value for the Arabidopsis program aimed at the same goal. The cyanobacterial results will be significant for an understanding of chloroplast function as well as providing critical information on how a cell lives, replicates, and responds to its environment. Proceedings of the seminar will be published on the Web.