Eva-Mari Aro
Academician of Science
Molecular Plant Biology evaaro@utu.fi +358 29 450 4200 +358 50 430 4639 Tykistökatu 6 Turku Office: 6207 ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2922-1435 |
Photosynthesis, regulation of photosynthetic light reactions, photoprotection, evolution of photoprotection mechanisms, chloroplast signaling, cyanobacterial cell factories.
Our basic research focuses on
regulation of photosynthesis, which is intimately linked with plant
stress responses and signalling cascades to regulate nuclear gene
expression. Particular emphasis is also put on evolutionary aspects of
regulation of thylakoid light harvesting and energy conversion systems. A
diverse set of photoautotrophic oxygen evolving organisms, from
cyanobacteria, green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and diatoms to a
moss Physcomitrella patens and ferns as well as to the model higher
plants Arabidopsis thaliana and spruce, are used in our research. We aim
at understanding (i) the mechanisms and dynamic regulation of the rapid
photophysical and photochemical processes of the light energy capture
and the photosynthetic electron transfer, (ii) how the structure and
organisation of the thylakoid protein complexes dynamically respond to
environmental changes, and (iii) how the signals originating from the
photosynthetic apparatus relay information to the nuclear genome for
regulation of gene expression and subsequent acclimation of the
photosynthetic organism to changing environmental conditions. Likewise
(iv) the evolution of thylakoid regulatory mechanisms, with special
emphasis on the replacement of the cyanobacterial flavodiiron proteins
with other regulatory mechanisms in higher plants, is investigated to
understand how it was possible for photosynthetic organisms to move from
oceans to the land.
Our applied research focuses on replacement
of fossil raw materials and aims at production of carbon-neutral
biosolarfuels and chemicals using cyanobacteria as a production chassis.
In the synthetic biology program, we aim at production of fuels and
chemicals with high photon conversion efficiency, significantly higher
compared to natural pathways. The main goal is economically viable
conversion of solar energy to a fuel using inexhaustible raw materials:
sunlight, water and CO2. Applied research is intimately integrated with
our basic research and comprises the designing, engineering and
optimisation of light harvesting, electron transfer and metabolic
pathways.
- Enhanced function of non-photoinhibited photosystem II complexes upon PSII photoinhibition (2023)
- BBA - Bioenergetics
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Flv3A facilitates O2 photoreduction and affects H2 photoproduction independently of Flv1A in diazotrophic Anabaena filaments (2023)
- New Phytologist
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Photosynthetic and transcriptome responses to fluctuating light in Arabidopsis thylakoid ion transport triple mutant (2023)
- Plant Direct
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - PSI Photoinhibition and Changing CO2 Levels Initiate Retrograde Signals to Modify Nuclear Gene Expression (2023)
- Antioxidants
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - A kaleidoscope of photosynthetic antenna proteins and their emerging roles (2022)
- Plant Physiology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Gene expression and organization of thylakoid protein complexes in the PSII-less mutant of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (2022)
- Plant Direct
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Paradoxes in judging the inhibition of photosynthetic electron transfer chain using P700 oxidation and dark re-reduction analyses (2022)
- BBA - Bioenergetics
(Article or data-article in scientific journal (B1)) - Patterning of the Autotrophic, Mixotrophic, and Heterotrophic Proteomes of Oxygen-Evolving Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (2022)
- Frontiers in Microbiology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Plants acclimate to Photosystem I photoinhibition by readjusting the photosynthetic machinery (2022)
- Plant, Cell and Environment
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Role of serine/threonine protein kinase STN7 in the formation of two distinct photosystem I supercomplexes in Physcomitrium patens (2022)
- Plant Physiology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - The Arabidopsis thylakoid chloride channel ClCe regulates ATP availability for light-harvesting complex II protein phosphorylation (2022)
- Frontiers in Plant Science
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - True oxygen reduction capacity during photosynthetic electron transfer in thylakoids and intact leaves (2022)
- Plant Physiology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Characterization of the Free and Membrane-Associated Fractions of the Thylakoid Lumen Proteome in Arabidopsis thaliana (2021)
- International Journal of Molecular Sciences
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Comparison of alternative integration sites in the chromosome and the native plasmids of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 in respect to expression efficiency and copy number (2021)
- Microbial Cell Factories
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Global proteomic response of unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 to fluctuating light upon CO2 step-down (2021)
- Physiologia Plantarum
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Hydrocarbon Desaturation in Cyanobacterial Thylakoid Membranes Is Linked With Acclimation to Suboptimal Growth Temperatures (2021)
- Frontiers in Microbiology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - NordAqua, a Nordic Center of Excellence to develop an algae-based photosynthetic production platform (2021)
- Physiologia Plantarum
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Photosystem I Inhibition, Protection and Signalling: Knowns and Unknowns (2021)
- Frontiers in Plant Science
(Refereed review article in scientific journal (A2)) - Taipuu vaan ei taitu - koronapandemiasta Suomen kriisinkestävyyden vahvistamiseen (2021) Mauranen Anna, Aro Eva-Mari, Hari Riitta, Jalkanen Sirpa, Kulmala Markku, Mustajoki Arto, Nieminen Risto, Niiniluoto Ilkka, Raivio Kari, Sipilä Jorma, Tirri Kirsi
(Published development or research report or study (D4)) - A Commonly Used Photosynthetic Inhibitor Fails to Block Electron Flow to Photosystem I in Intact Systems (2020)
- Frontiers in Plant Science
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))