Meeting: Biology of CAM Plants, April 9-13, 2018, Phoenix, Arizona

Desert Botanical Garden

Investigators

Abstract

Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthesis is one of the principle carbon concentrating mechanisms in terrestrial plants, and is the major means by which land plants achieve superior levels of resource-use efficiency. As a result, CAM plants are increasingly being recognized as among the world's most important crops for food, fodder, fiber, and fuel, as well as being key drivers of ecosystem function in dry regions. CAM photosynthesis also stands out as an example of complex trait evolution, with over 60 independent evolutionary origins, and occurrence in more than 33 families of vascular plants. Exploiting the productive potential of CAM for human enterprise while protecting CAM plants in naturally occurring environments requires the integration of a broad range of biological disciplines. To promote this integration, this conference will bring together a diverse group of scientists to discuss the evolution, ecology, functional biology, genomics and engineering of CAM traits and species. The outcomes of the conference will be highly relevant for ongoing efforts to select traits in succulent CAM species used for food crops and biofuels, and for conservation and management of highly threatened arid, semi-arid, or tropical ecosystems in the face of rapid environmental change. Discoveries from the conference will be translated into outreach and broad dissemination to the public, policy makers, land managers, and the scientific community. CAM photosynthesis was a leading topic in plant biology research in the two decades after its discovery in the 1960s. However, once the biochemical details of carbon flow in CAM photosynthetic pathways had been established, further progress in CAM research was dependent on application of molecular-genetic and phylogenetic, and isotopic approaches to investigate these metabolic adaptations. In recent years, significant advances in molecular phylogenetics, high throughput sequencing, and isotopic physiology have reinvigorated CAM research and contributed to major new initiatives in CAM evolution, the development of novel C3 photosynthesis and CAM bioenergy crops, and the engineering of CAM pathways in non-CAM crop species for improved climate resiliency. These initiatives are now producing exciting results, and due to the overlapping nature of disciplines in the modern era of biology, they need to be presented in a forum where experts and students from across the research spectrum can consider their significance. This conference aims to accelerate this momentum by providing a forum for face-to-face interactions among a wide range of plant biologists. In doing so, the conference will accelerate the pace of discovery and promote synergistic interactions that will maximize the potential for highly novel, transformative discoveries with immediate significance towards commercial application and the conservation of natural ecosystems.