Min Chen (biologist)

Min Chen, a biologist and associate professor of School of Biological Science of The University of Sydney. A/Prof Chen's research interests are primarily concerned with elucidating the molecular and biochemical mechanism of the energy-storing reactions in photosynthetic organisms, especially the function of novel photopigments in oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria.

Recently A/Prof Chen et al. discovered the fifth form chlorophyll, called Chlorophyll f. This work is published in [1] Science in August 2010. The Chlorophyll f (absorption maximum at 706 nm in vitro), suggests that oxygenic photosynthesis can be extended even further into the infrared region, which may open up associated bioenergy applications. The function of Chlorophyll f in photosynthetic reactions is uncertain and the ecological distribution of chlorophyll f remains unknown.

Selected Literature

• Chen M, Schliep M, Willows R, Cai Z-L, Neilan BA, Scheer H, "A red-shifted chlorophyll," Science 329, 1318-1319 (2010); published online 19 August 2010 [2].
• Schliep M, Crossett B, Willows RD, Chen M, "18O-labelling of chlorophyll d in acaryochloris marina reveal chlorophyll a and molecular oxygen are precursors," J. Bio. Chem. 285, 28450-28456(2010) [3].
• Chen M, Floetenmeyer M and Bibby TS, "Supramolecular organization of phycobiliproteins in the chlorophyll d-containing cyanobacterium Acaryochloris marina," FEBS Lett. 583, 2535-2539 (2009) [4].
• Swingley WD, Chen M, Cheung PC, Conrad AL, Dejesa LC, Hao J, Honchak BM, Karbach LE, Kurdoglu A, Lahiri S, Mastrian SD, Miyashita H, Page L, Ramakrishna P, Satoh S, Sattley WM, Shimada Y, Taylor HL, Tomo T, Tsuchiya T, Wang ZT, Raymond J, Mimuro M, Blankenship RE, and. Touchman JW, "Genome expansion in the chlorophyll d-producing cyanobacterium Acaryochloris marina," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105, 2005-2010 (2008) [5].
• Kühl M, Chen M, Ralph P, Schreiber U and Larkum AWD, "A niche for cyanobacteria containing chlorophyll d," Nature 433 820 (2005) [6].
• Bibby TS, Nield J, Chen M, Larkum AWD and Barber J, "Structure of a photosystem II supercomplex isolated from Prochloron didemni retaining its chlorophyll a/b light harvesting system," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 100 9050–9054 (2003) [7].

Additional Sources

• Bernhard Kraeutler, "A new factor in life's quest for energy", Angew Chem Int Ed, 50, 2439-2411 (2011)[8].
• Stephen K Ritter, Robert Bryson and Tchad K Blair, "A new chlorophyll, Chemcal Year in Review 2010", Chemical & Engineering News, 88(51), 13-17 (2010)[9].
• Ferris Jabr, "A new form of chlorophyll?" Scientific American, published online 19 August 2010 [10].
• Tina Casey, "Newly discovered chlorophyll scavenger could lead to cheaper biofuels" Scientific American, published online 29 August 2010 [11].
• Kate McAcpine, "Infrared chlorophyll could boost solar cells," New Scientist, published online 19 August 2010 [12] and 2775, 22 (2010) for print version [13].
• Ewwn Callaway, "A new kind of chlorophyll - and it only took 67 years to find" The Great Beyond of Nature.com, online 20 August 2010 [14].
• Sarah Everts, "Uncovering a new chlorophyll", Chemical & Engineering News, 88(34), 7 (2010)[15].
• Rachel Ehrenberg, "Chlorophyll gets an ‘f’ " ScienceNews, 178(6), 13 (2010)[16].

External links

• Homepage of Min Chen at Sydney