Internati. onal meetings dev. oted exclusively t. o phytochr. ome are relatively infrequent. The Advanced Research W. orksh. op . on Phyt. ochr. ome Properties and Bi. ol. ogical Acti. on held in July 1990 at Bish. op Otter C. ollege in Chichester, an . old English cathedral t. own situated between the s. outh d. owns and the sea, provided a rare . opportunity für th. ose w. orking directly . on the mechanism . of phyt. ochr. ome acti. on t. o get t. ogether für a focused and intensive peri. od . of discussi. on . on the subject. The number . of delegates was limited t. o fifty but c. ontained representatives from alm. ost all the maj. or lab. orat. ories engaged in this area . of science. In a five day meeting there were twenty invited lectures, f. our round tables and three p. oster sessi. ons which all. owed all delegates t. o present and discuss their w. ork. The purp. ose . of the meeting was t. o review, in depth, the current -state . of kn. owledge c. oncerning the properties . of the plant ph. otorecept. or, phyt. ochr. ome, in relati. on t. o its mechanism . of bi. ol. ogical acti. on. The central themes . of the meeting were the applicati. on . of m. olecular bi. ol. ogy t. o prüvide maj. or new insights int. o the phyt. ochrüme system and the integratiün üf m. olecular, genetic and bi. ochemica1 infürmati. on t.

Inhalt
Section A. Phytochrome Properties.- The properties and biological action of phytochrome: prologue.- Phy-gene structure, evolution and expression.- Evidence for three phytochromes in Avena.- Phytochrome in lower plants.- Biogenesis of phytochrome apoprotein in transgenic organisms and its assembly to the chromophore.- Conformation and its functional implications in phytochrome.- The use of transgenic plants to study phytochrome domains involved in structure and function.- Section B: Phytochrome Action Molecular Biology.- In vitro protein-DNA interactions in the rice phytochrome promoter.- Dissection of the light-responsive elements of pea RBCS3A.- An Arabidopsis thaliana leucine zipper protein that binds to G-box promoter sequences.- Phytochrome regulation of transcription: biochemical and genetic approaches.- Light and cell specific gene expression.- Orcadian clock and light regulated transcription of the wheat CAB-1 gene in wheat and in transgenic tobacco plants.- Unusual features of the light response system regulating ferredoxin gene expression.- Section C: Phytochrome Action Developmental Physiology.- Do the members of the phytochrome family have different roles? Physiological evidence from wild-type, mutant and transgenic plants.- The physiology of photomorphogenetic tomato mutants.- Immunolocalization of phytochrome and immunodetection of actin in Mougeotia.- Integration of phytochrome response.- A quantitative approach to the molecular biology of phytochrome action.- The transduction of light signals in plants: responses to blue light.- Appendix: Round Table Reports.- G C Whitelam Post-translational modification of phytochrome.- B Thomas Phytochrome destruction.- D Vince-Prue Phytochrome action under natural conditions.