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Contact Details

Phone
64 3 479 7865
Email
julian.eaton-rye@otago.ac.nz
Position
Professor
Department
Department of Biochemistry
Qualifications
BSc(Manc) PhD(Ill)
Research summary
Photosynthesis

Research

Life on our planet is driven by Photosystem II that captures sunlight and extracts electrons from H2O to reduce CO2 into sugars while releasing the O2 we breathe. My laboratory concentrates on structure-function studies of Photosystem II in plants and cyanobacteria. Currently we are working on protein-protein interactions that facilitate sustained water-splitting activity by Photosystem II in response to changing environmental conditions such as fluctuating light levels, temperature and pH. We are also interested in protein factors that are required for the assembly of Photosystem II. Since the sun provides more energy in 1 hour than our entire global energy consumption in 1 year, we are also working on metabolic engineering to couple the harvesting of light by photosynthetic protein complexes to the efficient production of biofuels in cyanobacteria.

Media appearances

Publications

Brown, T. J., Vass, I., Summerfield, T. C., & Eaton-Rye, J. J. (2024). Phe265 of the D1 protein is required to stabilize plastoquinone binding in the QB-binding site of photosystem II in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Biochemical & Biophysical Research Communications, 733, 150692. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2024.150692 Journal - Research Article

Nazari, M., Kordrostami, M., Ghasemi-Soloklui, A. A., Eaton-Rye, J. J., Pashkovskiy, P., Kuznetsova, V., & Allakhverdiev, S. I. (2024). Enhancing photosynthesis and plant productivity through genetic modification. Cells, 13, 1319. doi: 10.3390/cells13161319 Journal - Research Other

Biswas, S., Khaing, E. P., Zhong, V., & Eaton-Rye, J. J. (2024). Arg24 and 26 of the D2 protein are important for photosystem II assembly and plastoquinol exchange in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta: Bioenergetics, 1865(4), 149150. doi: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2024.149150 Journal - Research Article

Asih, D. R., Handayani, W., Ananda, A. Z., Yuniati, R., Hirota, R., Summerfield, T. C., & Eaton-Rye, J. J. (2024). An insight into potential phosphate bioremediation and renewable energy from agricultural waste via integrated wastewater treatment systems in Indonesia. Environmental Research Communications, 6, 042001. doi: 10.1088/2515-7620/ad359c Journal - Research Other

Arshad, F., & Eaton-Rye, J. J. (2024). Indirect interactions involving the PsbM or PsbT subunits and the PsbO, PsbU and PsbV proteins stabilize assembly and activity of Photosystem II in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Photosynthesis Research. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s11120-024-01091-9 Journal - Research Article

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