Photosynthesis: Structures, Mechanisms, and Applications

Harvey J.M. Hou, born in 1962 in China, is a Professor in the Department of Physical Sciences at Alabama State University, Montgomery, Alabama, USA. He received his B.Sc. in Physical Chemistry in 1984 from Wuhan University, and completed his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry in 1993 at Peking University (Beijing, China) with Xiaoxia Gao. He had his postdoctoral training at Chinese Academy of Sciences with Peisung Tang and Tingyun Kuang, at Iowa State University with Parag Chitnis, and at the Rockefeller University with David Mauzerall. Since 1995, he has served as a faculty member at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Gonzaga University, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and the Alabama State University. He began his research career in photosynthesis in 1993, working on photosystem II (PS II). In 1996, he visited the laboratory of Jacque Breton in France and studied the orientation of pigments in PS II. In the laboratory of Parag Chitnis, he examined the organization of PS I.Working with David Mauzerall, he systematically investigated the thermodynamics of electron transfer reactions in photosynthesis using pulsed photoacoustics. His work has uncovered a significant entropy change of reaction in PS I; further, he has demonstrated that the entropy change in PS I is dramatically different from that in PS II. Since he established his laboratory in 2002, he has maintained his long-term collaboration with David Mauzerall on the thermodynamics in cyanobacterial PS I and in Heliobacteria. In 2006, he began collaboration with Gary Brudvig at Yale University and Dunwei Wang at Boston College on artificial photosynthesis, and has developed a manganese/semiconductor system for solar energy storage. His research group has also investigated the responses of cyanobacteria and cranberry plants to environment. He co-chaired a symposium at the 15th International Congress of Photosynthesis Research, chaired the 28th Annual Eastern Regional Photosynthesis Conference, and he co-organized the 38th Annual Midwest/Southeast Photosynthesis Meeting.

• Foreword.- Preface.-  1. Photosynthesis: Natural Nanomachines Toward Energy and Food Production.-  2. Structure and Function of the Reaction Center - Light Harvesting 1 Core Complexes from the Purple Photosynthetic Bacteria.-  3. Recombinant Light-harvesting Complexes: Views and Perspectives.-  4. Alternative Electron Acceptors for Photosystem II.- 5. Chloride Requirement for Oxygen Evolution by Photosystem II as Explored by Enzyme Kinetics and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Spectroscopy.- 6. Vectorial Charge Transfer Reactions in Photosystem II.- 7. Function and Structure of Cyanobacterial Photosystem I.- 8. How Light-Harvesting and Energy-Transfer Processes are Modified under Different Light Conditions: Studies by Time-Resolved Fluorescence Spectroscopy.- 9. Interaction of Glycine Betaine and Plant Hormones: Protection of the Photosynthetic Apparatus during Abiotic Stress.- 10. Photosynthetic Responses Under Harmful and Changing Environment: Practical Aspects in Crop Research.- 11. Effects of Environmental Pollutants Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) on Photosynthetic Processes.- 12. Chlorophyll Fluorescence for High-Throughput Screening of Plants during Abiotic Stress, Aging, and Genetic Perturbation.- 13. Adaptation to Low Temperature in a Photoautotrophic Antarctic Psychrophile, Chlamydomonas sp. UWO 241.- 14. Nitric Oxide Mediated Effects on Chloroplasts.- 15. Nanostructured Mn Oxide/Carboxylic Acid or Amine Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes as Water-oxidizing Composites in Artificial Photosynthesis.- 16. Self-healing in Nano-sized Manganese-based Water-oxidizing Catalysts.-  17. A Robust Photosystem II Mimic: Manganese/Tungsten Oxide Nanostructures for Water-splitting.-  18. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Artificial Photosynthetic Complexes.-  19. Artificial Photosynthesis based on 1,10-Phenanthroline Complexes.-  20. Concluding Remarks and Future Perspectives: Looking Back and Moving Forward.- Index.

“This volume comprises a heavy dose (seven chapters worth) of photosynthetic light reactions, a good description of chlorophyll fluorescence for the screening and selection of highly efficient plants, five chapters on artificial photosynthesis and biological responses to various stressors, plus an introduction and conclusion. … Summing Up: Recommended.” (L. C. Davis, Choice, Vol. 55 (5), January, 2018)