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

该奖项支持美国科学家参加将于2002年11月22日至26日在夏威夷火奴鲁鲁举行的关于微生物和植物新陈代谢--通过基因组学实现功能的美日研讨会。联合组织者是印第安纳州普渡大学的路易斯·谢尔曼教授和日本冈山大学的高桥雄一郎教授。会议将讨论过去两年在光合作用微生物，特别是蓝藻基因组测序方面取得的非凡进展。会议将对十几个菌株进行测序，这将在许多不同的学科以及我们对基因调控的理解方面产生一系列新的发现。新测序的两种生物包括原氯球菌菌株，这种菌株在开放的海洋中非常重要，可能是地球上最丰富的光合作用生物。另外两个是固氮菌株，这将为分析固氮、杂胞发育和这些过程的调节方式提供巨大的机会。这次会议将讨论的科学意义是相当广泛的。蓝藻和其他光合作用光养生物已成为所有模式生物中最重要的生物之一，通过这些生物可以研究生物圈的许多重要问题。这次会议将为基因组学这一广泛领域的主要参与者提供一个及时的机会，讨论他们的成果，讨论最近工作的成功和困难，并着眼于未来的方向。社区的年轻成员将被邀请加入国际合作，并有望在他们的职业生涯中保持研究合作。最重要的是，蓝藻是了解细胞中每种蛋白质功能的最佳和最先进的模型系统之一。从这种光合作用微生物中获得的结果将对旨在实现同样目标的拟南芥计划具有重要价值。蓝藻的结果对于理解叶绿体的功能以及提供关于细胞如何生存、复制和对环境做出反应的关键信息将是重要的。研讨会的会议记录将在网上公布。

0137409ShermanThis 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.