Lauren Matheson <70214.1204 at CompuServe.COM> writes:
> Hello, I'm a grade 13 Student from Toronto and need some
>help. As part of an assingment I need to find a scientist who
>has made a significant contribution or discovery about
>photosynthesis since 1992.
>The information I need is Name, time period of their work, their
>line of work and if possible the general process by which they
>proposed their theory. If there's anything you can do to help
>that would be GREAT!
===========
Your goal seems a bit dichotomous. A great theory would (usually) not have
had time to be recognized as a great theory. By its very nature, a
"theory" is something that when proposed isn't generally proved.
However, within your stated criteria, I'd have to suggest you peruse the
paper(s) of Fred Hartman and Mark Harpel (journals of Biochemistry and
Journal of Biological Chemistry.) Starting with the crystal structure of
Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, they (and others) methodically
used site-directed mutagenesis to alter amino acids around the active site
of Rubisco. The work culminated with the first demonstration of an
improved catalytic efficiency enzyme (by one criteria.)
Fred writes well and has recently published a bevy of review articles
(makes getting into the subject a bit easier. Check the Annual Review of
Biochemistry for recent work.
Good luck.
--
Eric Larson | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
USDA/Agronomy | 190 PABL; 1201 W. Gregory; Urbana, IL 61801
elarson at ux1.cso.uiuc.edu | Voice 217.244.3079 Fax 217.244.4419
Fidonet: 1:233/4.1 | My opinions are my own, but correct :-)
