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Biomass & Biofuels

Engineered and Artificial Photosynthesis: Human Ingenuity Enters the Game

Devens Gust^a1, David Kramer^a2, Ana Moore^a1, Thomas A. Moore^a1 and Wim Vermaas^a1

^a1 Arizona State University, USA

^a2 Washington State University, USA

All oxygen-dependent life depends on photosynthesis. In addition to breathing the oxygen produced by photosynthesis, humans have been harnessing energy from photosynthesis for millennia. Since the beginning of human societal structures, human needs have driven the evolution of agricultural production, and they continue to do so. Recently, it has been suggested that agriculture can contribute substantially to human technological (nonnutritional) energy needs. This possibility raises concern because the projections of human energy needs argue convincingly that without large increases in energy conversion effciency (ECE), land-grown biofuel production and food production will compete for land, a largely untenable compromise given the current nutritional status of the world's underdeveloped societies.

Devens Gust can be reached at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, PO Box 871604, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287–1604, USA; tel. 480–965–4547, fax 480–965–2747, and e-mail gust@asu.edu.

Gust is the Foundation Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Arizona State University. He received his BS degree in chemistry from Stanford University, and his MS and PhD degrees in chemistry from Princeton University. Gust joined the faculty at Arizona State after postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology. His research is in the area of organic photochemistry, with an emphasis in artifcial photosynthesis and photochemical molecular logic. Gust received the Award in Photochemistry from the Inter-American Photochemical Society, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

David M. Kramer can be reached at the Institute of Biological Chemistry, PO Box 646340, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164–6340, USA; tel. 509–335–4964, and e-mail dkramer@wsu.edu.

Kramer is a professor and fellow of the Institute of Biological Chemistry, and chair of the Graduate Program in Molecular Plant Sciences at Washington State University (WSU). He received his PhD degree in biophysics from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied photosynthesis with Antony R. Crofts. Kramer joined WSU after spending time as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique in Paris, where he studied photosynthesis with Pierre Joliot. Kramer's current research focuses on how photosynthesis is integrated into the plant to supply energy, but does not produce deleterious side reactions.

Ana L. Moore can be reached at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, PO Box 871604, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287–1604, USA; tel. 480–965–2953, fax 480–965–2747, and e-mail amoore@asu.edu.

Moore is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Arizona State University. She received her PhD degree from Texas Tech University and was a visiting scientist at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, the Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Systémes Polyphases (associated with the CNRS, Montepellier), and at the CEA Saclay in France. At Arizona State, Moore teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in organic chemistry, and her research interests are in the design and construction of bioinspired systems to carry out solar-energy conversion. Moore has served and on the council of the American Society for Photobiology and on the editorial advisory board of Accounts of Chemical Research, and is a council member of the International Society for Photobiology.

Thomas Moore can be reached at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, PO Box 871604, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287–1604, USA; tel. 480–965–3308, fax 480–965–2747, and e-mail tmoore@asu.edu.

Moore is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry and interim director of the Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis at Arizona State University (ASU). He received his PhD degree in chemistry from Texas Tech University. Moore teaches undergraduate and graduate level biochemistry at ASU, and lectures in biophysics at the Universitè de Paris Sud, Orsay. His research in artifcial photosynthesis is aimed at the design, synthesis, and assembly of bio-inspired constructs for sustainable energy production and effcient energy use. Moore was awarded a Chaire Internationale de Recherche Blaise Pascal, Région d'Ile de France, Service de Bioénergétique, CEA Saclay, France, for the period of 2005 to 2007. He has served as president of the American Society for Photobiology in 2004, and received the Senior Research Award from the Society in 2001.

Wim Vermaas can be reached at the School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, PO Box 874501, Tempe, AZ 85287–4501, USA; tel. 480–965–6250, fax 480–965–6899, and e-mail wim@asu.edu.

Vermaas is a professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University (ASU), and is part of the Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis. He obtained his doctorate degree from the Agricultural University in Wageningen, The Netherlands, in 1984, and has been at ASU since 1986. Vermaas has been a driving force in setting up molecular tools for metabolic engineering of cyanobacteria, and his current research interests include design and utilization of cyanobacteria for improved biofuels production from sunlight, CO₂, and water.