Arthur Grossman, a senior staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Dept Plant Biology, visited IHB on August 24, 2023. (Credit: IHB)

On August 24, 2023, Arthur Grossman, a senior staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Dept Plant Biology, and a visiting professor at Stanford University, visited the Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences upon invitation of Prof. ZHANG Cheng-Cai. During this visit, Dr. Grossman gave a highly interesting talk entitled "Organellogenesis and the Paulinella system".    

The origin and organelles through endosymbiosis are important topics in evolution and in biology. Dr. Arthur Grossman used the Paulinella, a system at the early stage of endosymbiosis established between a protist and a cyanobacterium. When Paulinella cells "engulf" photosynthetic cyanobacteria, the latter degenerate into pigment bodies and form an endophytic relationship with Paulinella, The combination of the two forms a "new species" capable of weak photosynthesis. The research of Dr. Grossman explored how the two partners start a new relationship, though gene transfer, protein trafficking, and metabolic exchanges. These research activities help us to deepen our understanding on organogenesis and evolution of eukaryotic cells.  

Arthur Grossman has been engaged in research related to algae photosynthesis, stress regulation, and energy metabolism for a long time, and have published over 200 papers in journals such as Science, Nature, PNAS, Trends in Plant Science, Nature Genetics, The Plant Cell, The Plant Journal, and Molecular Microbiology etc. He made important contribution to different research fields using cyanobacteria and algae.