Introduction
Our research program is centered on the solar energy storage processes that take place in photosynthetic organisms (1). Our research spans an extremely wide range of topics ranging from probing ultrafast energy and electron transfer processes in photosynthetic antenna and reaction center complexes to biochemical analysis, molecular evolution and genomic studies of the origin and early evolution of photosynthesis and other metabolic processes such as nitrogen fixation. We study almost every group of photosynthetic organisms, including both anoxygenic and oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria, algae and higher plants, as well as some nonphotosynthetic bacteria. Below I give a synopsis of some of our ongoing research projects with references to recent publications in this area.
- Improving Solar Energy Efficiency by Extension of the Range of Available Light that Drives Photosynthesis
- Structure, Function and Reconstitution of Antenna Complexes of Green Photosynthetic Bacteria
- Discovery of a New Class of Integral-Membrane Oxidoreductases and Its Relation to Bacterial Electron Transfer Pathways
- Genome Sequencing of Photosynthetic Prokaryotes
- Evolution of Photosynthesis and the Transition from an Anaerobic to an Aerobic World
- Evolution of Nitrogen Fixation and Related Processes
- Bioenergy Research
- References