Photosynthesis: Molecular Approaches to Solar Energy Conversion

Part 1. Natural and Artificial Water Oxidation.- 1. Structure, Electron Transfer Chain of Photosystem II and the Mechanism of Water-splitting (Jian-Ren Shen, Yoshiki Nakajima, Fusamichi Akita, Michihiro Suga).- 2. Mechanism of Water Oxidation in Photosynthesis Elucidated by Interplay between Experiment and Theory (Kizashi Yamaguchi, Shusuke Yamanaka, Hiroshi Isobe, Mitsuo Shoji, Takashi Kawakami, Koichi Miyagawa).- 3. On the Nature of the Functional S-states in the Oxygen Evolving Centre of Photosystem II: What Computational Chemistry Reveals about the Water Splitting Mechanism (Rob Stranger, Simon Petrie, Richard Terrett and Ron J. Pace).- 4. "Toward Molecular Mechanisms of Solar Water Splitting in Semi-Conductor/Manganese Materials and Photosystem II (Harvey J. M. Hou).- Part 2. Light-harvesting Systems.- 5. Chlorophyll Species and Their Functions in the Photosynthetic Energy Conversion (Tatsuya Tomo and Suleyman I. Allakhverdiev).- 6."Structure, Organization and Function of Light-harvesting Complexes Associated with Photosystem II (Wenda Wang and Jian-Ren Shen).- 7. Structure, Function, and Evolution of Photosystem I-light harvesting antenna I complexes (Xiaochun Qin).- 8. Light Harvesting Modulation in Photosynthetic Organisms (Miguel A. Hernández-Prieto and Min Chen).- 9. Red-shifted and Red Chlorophylls in Photosystems: Entropy as a Driving Force for Uphill Energy Transfer? (Thomas Friedrich and Franz-Josef Schmitt).- 10. Modification of Energy Distribution between Photosystems I and II by Spillover Revealed by Time-Resolved Fluorescence Spectroscopy (Makio Yokono, Yoshifumi Ueno, and Seiji Akimoto).- 11. Perception of State Transitions in Photosynthetic Organisms (Rajagopal Subramanyam and Sai Kiran Madireddi).- Part 3. Photo-induced Charge Separation and Primary Electron Transfer Processes.- 12. Molecular Mechanism of Asymmetric Electron Transfer on the Electron   Donor Side of Photosystem II (Takumi Noguchi).- Part 4. Membrane Dynamics and

Jian-Ren Shen is a Professor at the Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, Okayama University, Japan. He obtained his PhD degree from the University of Tokyo in 1990, and worked in Dr. Yorinao Inoue's group in RIKEN Institute before becoming a full professor at Okayama University. His is a world leader in the structural biology of photosynthetic membrane protein complexes, and solved the high-resolution structure of photosystem II from cyanobacteria.


Kimiyuki Satoh is an Emeritus Professor at Okayama University, Japan. He earned the PhD degree from the University of Tokyo in 1972, and is the first one to isolate and identify the photosystem II reaction center. His contributions to photosynthesis research have been recognized by a number of awards including the Finsen Medal from the International Union of Photobiology. He was a Consulting Editor for the Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration series during 1999-2005.


Allakhverdiev S.I. is the Head ofControlled Photobiosynthesis Laboratory at the Timiryazev Institute of Plant Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), and several other affiliations at different institutes. He received his PhD from the Institute of Biophysics, USSR in 1984, and worked in many world-leading laboratories including Robert Carpentier, Norio Murata, etc. Allakhverdiev S.I. has authored (or co-authored) more than 350 research papers, 37 book chapters, 7 patents and 9 books.