Metabolism, Structure and Function of Plant Tetrapyrroles: Introduction, Microbial and Eukaryotic Chlorophyll Synthesis and Catabolism

Bernhard Grimm is Professor of Plant Physiology at the Institute of Biology at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Dean of the Faculty of Life Science. He studied biology at the University of Hannover and performed doctoral studies in the group of Prof. Klaus Kloppstech. He spent five years at a postdoctoral fellow and research assistant in the Department of Prof. Diter von Wettstein at the Carlsberg Laboratory, before he moved as group leader to the Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben, Germany. Finally, he was appointed at the Humboldt University in January 2001. His current research interests cover several aspects of photosynthesis and chloroplast biogenesis: tetrapyrrole biosynthesis, plastid-derived retrograde signalling, riboflavin biosynthesis, the assembly of chlorophyll-binding proteins, posttranslational and cotranslational mechanisms in chloroplasts.

• 1. Tetrapyrrole pigments of photosynthetic antennae and reaction centers of higher plants: Structures, biophysics, functions, biochemistry, mechanisms of regulation, applicationsLeszek Fiedor, Mateusz Zbyradowski and Mariusz Pilch2. Biosynthesis of chlorophylls and bacteriochlorophylls in green bacteriaJennifer L. Thweatt, Daniel P. Canniffe and Donald A. Bryant3. Chlorophylls c - Occurrence, synthesis, properties, photosynthetic and evolutionary significanceBeata Myśliwa-Kurdziel, Dariusz Latowski and Kazimierz Strzałka4. Chlorophylls d and f: Synthesis, occurrence, light-harvesting, and pigment organization in chlorophyll-binding protein complexesMin Chen5. The Mg branch chlorophyll synthesis: Biosynthesis of chlorophyll a from protoporphyrin IXRobert D. Willows6. The biochemistry, physiology, and evolution of the chlorophyll cycleAyumi Tanaka and Ryouichi Tanaka7. Chlorophyll breakdown - Regulation, biochemistry and phyllobilins as its productsStefan Hörtensteiner, Mareike Hauenstein and Bernhard Kräutler8. Evolution of tetrapyrrole pathway in eukaryotic phototrophsJaromír Cihlář, Zoltán Füssy and Miroslav Oborník