Photosynthesis (ePub)

Photosynthesis has been an important field of research for more than a century, but the present concerns about energy, environment and climate have greatly intensified interest in and research on this topic. Research has progressed rapidly in recent years, and this book is an interesting read for an audience who is concerned with various ways of harnessing solar energy.Our understanding of photosynthesis can now be said to have reached encyclopedic dimensions. There have been, in the past, many good books at various levels. Our book is expected to fulfill the needs of advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in branches of biology, biochemistry, biophysics, and bioengineering because photosynthesis is the basis of future advances in producing more food, more biomass, more fuel, and new chemicals for our expanding global human population. Further, the basics of photosynthesis are and will be used not only for the above, but in artificial photosynthesis, an important emerging field where chemists, researchers and engineers of solar energy systems will play a major role.Contents: IntroductionThe Photosynthetic ApparatusBasics of Photosynthesis: Light-Dependent ReactionsBasics of Photosynthesis: The Carbon ReactionsRegulation of PhotosynthesisPhotosynthesis and Our PlanetAnoxygenic PhotosynthesisThe Past, Present and the FutureThe Ultimate: Artificial PhotosynthesisReadership: Advanced undergraduate and graduate students of biology, biochemistry, biophysics, and bioengineering.Key Features:To make the book readable to a wide readership, research methods are briefly described, concentrating on what is known about the biological process of photosynthesisPresents the most promising research results on natural photosynthesis and, to some extent, on artificial photosynthesis