This two-year award supports collaborative research between Louise E. Anderson, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Gote Johansson from the University of Lund in Sweden. The objectives of this study are to explore the interactions between plant enzymes in chloroplasts using phase partitioning and to examine the effects of modulators on enzyme partitioning. These experiments will contribute to our understanding of carbon dioxide fixation during photosynthesis and of enzyme-enzyme interactions. Disruption of these enzyme-enzyme interactions could be important in analyzing the stressful effects of salt, drought, flooding, and pollutants on plant photosynthesis. Dr. Anderson and Dr. Johansson will jointly conduct experiments and analyze the data. This project will benefit from their complementary strengths, specifically, Dr. Anderson's extensive background on enzyme- enzyme interactions and metabolism, and Dr. Johansson's expertise in phase partitioning.