© Society for Experimental Biology 2005
Preface
This special issue is the result of a session at the 2004 meeting of the Society for Experimental Biology, which was held at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK, between 29 March and 2 April 2004. The session, entitled Light Stress in Plants: Mechanisms and Interactions, aimed to consider the role of light in driving stress responses in plants at levels ranging from the molecular to the ecosystem. This breadth is reflected within the articles in this special issue. The meeting opened by considering the role of light at the most basic level—in driving the destruction of individual molecules, most classically photosystem II, but also through the production of reactive oxygen causing widespread damage in the leaf. This is an area in which significant progress has been made over recent years, with functional measurements being increasingly supported by structural information, as was reflected in several of the talks (see papers by Krieger-Liszkay, Aro et al., and Nixon et al.). However, current ideas do not focus just on the damaging effects of excess light but increasingly on more positive aspects—the mechanisms that protect (Niyogi et al., and Horton and Ruban) and those that repair the damage that does occur (Aro et al., and Nixon et al.). These aspects formed the first part of the meeting and are also covered in a range of contributions here. Regulatory mechanisms, protecting against excess light under environmental stress, were considered in individual protein complexes (specifically photosystem II: Horton and Ruban, Niyogi et al., Mullineaux and Emlyn-Jones, and Finazzi), but also for the wider process of light-driven electron transport, with both being areas of ongoing debate that gave rise to lively discussions (compare papers by Cruz et al. and by Johnson). Approaches adopted to address this question include spectroscopy, molecular genetics and proteomics.
As the meeting moved on, the level of organization shifted away from the individual proteins in the thylakoid membrane towards consideration of more widespread processes, including in particular a range of approaches to understand metabolic and genetic responses to fluctuations in the environment (Murchie et al., Walters, Luna et al., and Pastenes et al.). A number of papers consider how plants are able to respond to and, in some cases, to track changes in their environment, which may occur over timescales ranging from diurnal to seasonal.
The final portion of the meeting moved up in scale once more, considering the role of light at a whole plant and at an ecosystem level, with the role of light in determining the success of plants in natural environments (Matsubara et al., Pastenes et al., Leakey et al., and Valladares et al.). Here, as in other parts of the meeting, the concept of interactions between light and other environmental factors was seen to be crucial. The effects of light can never be separated from the role of factors including water availability, temperature and interactions with other species, all of which were discussed throughout the meeting.
The breadth of the meeting and of this special issue are reflected in the range of support it received. In addition to the generous sponsorship of the SEB and the Journal of Experimental Botany, the event was also funded by the British Ecological Society, a further indication of the important role of interdisciplinary approaches in this field of research. Thanks are also due to the industrial sponsors of the meeting, ADC Bioscientific Ltd., Hansatech Ltd., and PP-systems Ltd.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||