Handbook Of Photosensory Receptors

This first complete resource on photosensory receptors from bacteria, plants and animals compiles the data on all known classes of photoreceptors, creating a must-have reference for students and researchers for many years to come. Among the editors are the current and a former president of the American Society for Photobiology.

Here is a comprehensive survey of all aspects of these fascinating bacteria, metabolically the most versatile organisms on Earth. It compiles 48 chapters written by leading experts, who highlight the huge progress made in studies of these bacteria since 1995.

Flavins and flavoproteins are a widely investigated and highly versatile group of compounds. Participation of these compounds in photochemistry and photobiology processes are of particular importance in the fields of biology, chemistry and medicine. Written by leading experts in the field each section of the book includes a historical overview of the subject, state of the art developments and future perspectives. Flavins: Photochemistry and Photobiology begins with the properties and applications of flavins, including their photochemistry in aqueous and organic solutions. Subsequent sections discuss riboflavin as a visible light sensitizer in the photo degradation of drugs, antiviral and antibacterial effects, the role of flavins in light induced toxicity and blue light initiated DNA repair by photolyase. Finally there are sections on the flavin based photoreceptors in plants, bacteria and eukaryotic photosynthetic flagelettes. This book brings together leading experts with a unique interdisciplinary emphasis, to provide an authoritative resource on flavins and their role in photochemistry and photobiology.

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Plants as sessile organisms have evolved fascinating capacities to adapt to changes in their natural environment. Arguably, light is by far the most important and variable environmental factor. The quality, quantity, direction and duration of light is monitored by a series of photoreceptors covering spectral information from UVB to near infrared. The response of the plants to light is called photomorphogenesis and it is regulated by the concerted action of photoreceptors. The combined techniques of action spectroscopy and biochemistry allowed one of the important photoreceptors – phytochrome – to be identified in the middle of the last century. An enormous number of physiological studies published in the last century describe the properties of phytochrome and its function and also the physiology of blue and UV-B photoreceptors, unidentified at the time. This knowledge was summarized in the advanced textbook “Photomorphogenesis in Plants” (Kendrick and Kronenberg, eds., 1986, 1994). With the advent of molecular biology, genetics and new molecular, cellular techniques, our knowledge in the field of photomorphogenesis has dramatically increased over the last 15 years.

While certain ecological problems associated with artificial night lighting are widely known-for instance, the disorientation of sea turtle hatchlings by beachfront lighting-the vast range of influences on all types of animals and plants is only beginning to be recognized. From nest choice and breeding success of birds to behavioral and physiological changes in salamanders, many organisms are seriously affected by human alterations in natural patterns of light and dark. Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting is the first book to consider the environmental effects of the intentional illumination of the night. It brings together leading scientists from around the world to review the state of knowledge on the subject and to describe specific effects that have been observed across a full range of taxonomic groups, including mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, fishes, invertebrates, and plants. Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting provides a scientific basis to begin addressing the challenge of conserving the nighttime environment. It cogently demonstrates the vital importance of this until-now neglected topic and is an essential new work for conservation planners, researchers, and anyone concerned with human impacts on the natural world.

The only combined organic photochemistry and photobiology handbookAs spectroscopic, synthetic and biological tools become more and more sophisticated, photochemistry and photobiology are merging-making interdisciplinary research essential. Following in the footsteps of its bestselling predecessors, the CRC Handbook of Organic Photochemistry and Pho

Living organisms are subject to fluctuating environmental conditions. Whereas most animals are able to move away from unfavourable conditions, plants are sessile and so must cope with whatever comes their way. Of all the environmental cues that challenge the developing plant, light can probably be considered to be the most important. In addition to its key role in plant metabolism, and hence almost all life on Earth, where it drives the process of photosynthesis, light energy also acts to regulate plant growth and development. Light quantity, quality, direction and diurnal and seasonal duration regulate processes from germination, through seedling establishment to the architecture of the mature plant and the transition to reproductive development. These developmental responses of plants to light constitute photomorphogenesis. This volume is designed to provide the reader with state-of-the-art accounts of our current knowledge of the major classes of higher plant regulatory photoreceptors and the signal transduction networks that comprise plant developmental photobiology. Consideration is also given to the ways in which knowledge of plant photoreceptors and their signalling networks can be exploited, for instance to improve the quality and productivity of commercially-grown plants. The book is directed at researchers and professionals working in plant molecular biology, plant physiology and plant biochemistry.