[Seminar] Harnessing the evolution of photosynthetic efficiency
| When |
04 Apr, 2019
from
04:00 pm to 05:00 pm |
|---|---|
| Where | Auditorium |
| Contact Name | Nelson Saibo |
| Add event to your calendar |
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Plants for Life Seminar
Title: Harnessing the evolution of photosynthetic efficiency
Speaker: Steven Kelly
Affiliation: Royal Society University Research Fellow and Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford.
Abstract
There is substantial natural diversity in photosynthetic efficiency across the tree of life. In this talk I will discuss some of the approaches we have used to exploit this diversity to fill gaps in our understanding of photosynthetic pathways and improve the molecular machinery of photosynthesis. I will also discuss how studying the evolution of microbial genomes lead to the surprising discovery that photosynthetic efficiency modulates the tempo of the plant molecular clock. This finding provides a mechanistic explanation for observed changes in plant speciation rates that occur concomitant with improvements in photosynthetic efficiency and changes in the environment.
