Plastids are essential plant organelles, vital for life on earth. They are important not just as photosynthetic organelles (chloroplasts) but also as sites involved in many fundamental intermediary metabolic pathways. Over the last decade, plastid research has seen tremendous advances and an exciting new picture is emerging of how plastids develop and function inside plant cells. The recent and rapid progress in the field has been due largely to reverse genetic approaches and forward genetic screening programs, which have resulted in the dissection of numerous chloroplast protein-function relationships.
This book provides an overview of the current state of the art. It is directed at researchers and professionals in plant physiology, cell biology, genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry.
1. The genomic era of chloroplast research Dario Leister and Paolo Pesaresi, Abteilung fur Pflanzenzuchtung und Ertragsphysiologie, Max-Planck-Institut fur Zuchtungsforschung, Koln, Germany 2. Plastid development and differentiation Mark Waters and Kevin Pyke, Plant Sciences Division, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, UK 3. Plastid metabolic pathways Ian Tetlow and Michael J. Emes, College of Biological Sciences, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Steve Rawsthorne, Department of Metabolic Biology, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK and Christine Raines, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, UK 4. Plastid division in higher plants Simon Geir Moller, Department of Biology, University of Leicester, UK 5. The protein import pathway into chloroplasts: a single tune or variations on a common theme? Ute C. Vothknecht and Jurgen Soll, Department of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany 6. Biogenesis of the thylakoid membrane Colin Robinson, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, UK and Alexandra Mant, Department of Plant Biology, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg, Denmark 7. The chloroplast proteolytic machinery Zach Adam, The Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel 8. Regulation of nuclear expression by plastid signals John C. Gray, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, UK 9. Chloroplast avoidance movement Masahiro Kasahara, Gene Research Center, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan and Masamitsu Wada, Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan 10. Chloroplast genetic engineering for enhanced agronomic traits and expression of proteins for medical/industrial applications Andrew L. Devine and Henry Daniell, Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA References Index
This book provides an up-to-date overview of current knowledge of plastid biology. This book is intended for researchers and professionals in plant physiology, cell biology, genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry. CAB Abstracts