9513967 Heath The Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside (UCR) has held a symposium for the past 17 years on timely topics in plant biology. The 18th Annual Sympoisum in Plant Biology, entitled "How Plants Use the Light Environment to Regulate Growth and Development," will be held January 18-20, 1996. The objective of the 1996 Symposium is to bring together scientists working in the area of plant growth and development as influenced by light, with the intention that the presentations, and the discussion arising from them, will lead to a greater understanding of the cellular, physiological, and genetic aspects of the photo-environment. It will cover the major electromagnetic bands which influence plants on earth, including the phytochrome and blue light responses and the UV spectrum which will be increasing due to the weakening of the ozone layer shield. The five sections will be: 1) properties of the photoreceptors; 2) light regulation of gene expression; 3) signal transduction; 4) the use of mutants; and 5) the whole plant response, to also including circadian rhythms. Speakers from abroad and from other institutions, including young investigators who have introduced innovative molecular approaches, will be invited to participate. Poster presentations will also be included in the program. The presented papers, as well as poster abstracts, will be published rapidly and inexpensively. Riverside is an ideal location for this symposium because there are many researchers within California and the western states.
