When: 4:00 – 5:00 p.m., Thursday, May 11, 2017

Where: Meeting Room No. 7, Conference Building, Weijin Road Campus

Lecturer: Professor Brigitte Gontero

About the Lecturer: Prof. Brigitte Gontero is the Director of Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines (BIP) in Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS).

About the Lecture: Aquatic photosynthetic organisms cope with low environmental CO2 concentrations through the action of carbon-concentrating mechanisms (CCMs). Known eukaryotic CCMs consist of inorganic carbon transporters and carbonic anhydrases (and other supporting components) that culminate in elevated [CO2] inside a chloroplastic Rubisco-containing structure called a pyrenoid. We identified CAH1 as an α-type carbonic anhydrase, providing a biochemical role in CCM function. CAH1 was found to localize to the lumen of the epiplastid endoplasmic reticulum, with its expression regulated by the external inorganic carbon concentration at both the transcript and protein levels. Findings show that CAH1 is an indispensable component of what may be a simple but effective and dynamic CCM in N. oceanica.

Organizer: Institute of Surface-Earth System Science