This award supports cooperative research in the regulation and reaction mechanisms of key enzymes in photosynthesis to be carried out by Gerald Edwards of Washington State University along with Marion O'Leary of the University of Nebraska Department of Biochemistry and two researchers from the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Rosario in Argentina, Carlos Andreo and Alberto Iglesias. Photosynthesis is of fundamental importance as a biological process and this study will focus on carbon-4 photosynthesis and its mechanism and control by intrinsic and environmental factors. The primary role of the Argentinian team will be to apply their expertise in enzyme purification, quarternary structure and the identification of functional groups. The U.S. scientists will identify cold-tolerant varieties of important crops, synthesize substrate analogs and locate the position of functional groups on enzymes. Thus the complementary expertise of three laboratories will study the key enzymes of the C-4 pathway of photosynthesis which allows crops to assimilate carbon dioxide at high rates under optimum conditions.
