The tiny, self-contained genetic system of the chloroplast (or plastid) in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is well suited for genetic engineering and has recently seen a surge in the deployment of synthetic biology approaches.

In my talk, I’d like to introduce two of my postdoctoral studies where I explored the independent expression of two genes in tobacco: Rubisco activase (RCA) and a spider silk gene, Major ampullate spidroin 1 (MaSp1).

Talk followed by panel discussion about future directions in Plant Science.

In chloroplasts of embryophytes, superwobbling between codons and anticodons has been demonstrated to facilitate translation of the standard genetic code by a minimized set of only 30 tRNAs (Rogalski et al., 2008).

The timing of flowering needs to be tightly controlled to maximize reproductive success. Plants perceive seasonal cues (e.g., day length and temperature) to adjust the timing of flowering.

Nocturnal stomatal conductance (gsn) represents a significant, enigmatic source of water-loss, with implications for whole plant metabolism, thermal regulation and water-use efficiency.