Ferredoxin-ferredoxin NADP reductase interaction:catalytic differnces between the soluble and thylakoid-bound complex

2Ferredoxin-NADP reductase (FNR) and ferredoxin form a complex when the former is membrane-bound as they do when both components are in solution, with the same dissociation constant. The rate constant of NADP photoreduction, first order with respect to the complex, is more than 20-times higher when FNR is membrane-bound than when the enzyme is in solution. The Arrhenius activation energy is identical in both conditions. These observations are interpreted in terms of ‘entropic catalysis’ of NADP reduction by the thylakoid-bound FNR.openForti G.; Bracale M.Forti, G.; Bracale, Marcell

Nota a «Paradosso 2012/2. Forme della vita e statuti del vivente», AA.VV. (11/09/2013). Alcune osservazioni sulle ultime riflessioni di Franco Rebuffo

Nota del 11/09/2013 in cui Giorgio Forti risponde alla nota di Franco Rebuffo del 05/09/2013, in relazione al dibattito sui contenuti del numero di «Paradosso 2012/2. Forme della vita e statuti del vivente» a cura di Florinda Cambria

Nota a «Paradosso 2012/2. Forme della vita e statuti del vivente», AA.VV. (09/07/13)

Alcune osservazioni di Giorgio Forti del 09/07/13 al numero della rivista «Paradosso 2012/2. Forme della vita e statuti del vivente», a cura di Florinda Cambria

La teoria dell'Evoluzione nella cultura moderna: evoluzione biologica ed evoluzione culturale [con traduzione in inglese]

La teoria dell’Evoluzione biologica alla luce delle conoscenze acquisite dalla biologia molecolare, dall’immunologia e  dall’embriologia: la “mutazione adattativa”, sua scoperta nei batteri e sua realtà negli organismi superiori. Statistica degli eventi rari e “piano intelligente”. Eredità dei caratteri acquisiti durante l’epigenesi: Darwin e Lamarck. Struttura del cervello e mente umana: il ruolo dell’eredità biologica e quello di ambiente, apprendimento ed esperienze nella formazione ed evoluzione della mente personale. Arbitrarietà e ridondanza nell’evoluzione biologica e nell’evoluzione del linguaggio umano.The theory of  biological Evolution after the recent discoveries of molecular biology, immunology and embryology: the “adaptive mutation” discovery in bacteria and its reality in higher organisms. Statistics of rare events and “intelligent design”. Heredity of the characters acquired during epigenesis: Darwin and Lamarck. Structure of the brain and human mind: the role of genetic inheritance and the one of the ambient and of the experiences in the formation and evolution of the mind and personality. Arbitrarity and redundancy in the evolution of  living organisms and that of human languages

Nota a «Paradosso 2012/2. Forme della vita e statuti del vivente», AA.VV. (27/07/13). Sul fenomeno «vita»

Controreplica di Giorgio Forti alle precedenti note di Andrea Parravicini (18/07/13) e Franco Rebuffo (25/07/13)

From ”Sapienza” to “Sapienza, State Archives in Rome”. A looping effect bringing back to the original source communication and culture by innovative and low cost 3D surveying, imaging systems and GIS applications

Applicazione di tecnologie mensorie integrate Low Cost,web GIS,applicazione di tecniche di Computational photography per la comunicazione e condivisione dei dati, sistemi di Cloud computing.Archiviazione Grandi DatiHigh Quality survey models, realized by multiple Low Cost methods and technologies, as a container to sharing Cultural and Archival Heritage, this is the aim guiding our research, here described in its primary applications. The SAPIENZA building, a XVI century masterpiece that represented the first unified headquarters of University in Rome, plays since year 1936, when the University moved to its newly edified campus, the role of the main venue for the State Archives. By the collaboration of a group of students of the Architecture Faculty, some integrated survey methods were applied on the monument with success. The beginning was the topographic survey, creating a reference on ground and along the monument for the upcoming applications, a GNNS RTK survey followed georeferencing points on the internal courtyard. Dense stereo matching photogrammetry is nowadays an accepted method for generating 3D survey models, accurate and scalable; it often substitutes 3D laser scanning for its low cost, so that it became our choice. Some 360°shots were planned for creating panoramic views of the double portico from the courtyard, plus additional single shots of some lateral spans and of pillars facing the court, as a single operation with a double finality: to create linked panotours with hotspots to web-linked databases, and 3D textured and georeferenced surface models, allowing to study the harmonic proportions of the classical architectural order. The use of free web Gis platforms, to load the work in Google Earth and the realization of low cost 3D prototypes of some representative parts, has been even performed

Photoinhibition of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in State 1 and State 2: damages to the photosynthetic apparatus under linear and cyclic electron flow.

The relationship between state transitions and photoinhibition has been studied in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells. In State 2, photosystem II activity was more inhibited by light than in State 1. In State 2, however, the D1 subunit was not degraded, whereas a substantial degradation was observed in State 1. These results suggest that photoinhibition occurs via the generation of an intermediate state in which photosystem II is inactive but the D1 protein is still intact. The accumulation of this state is enhanced in State 2, because in this State only cyclic photosynthetic electron transport is active, whereas there is no electron flow between photosystem II and the cytochrome b(6)f complex (Finazzi, G., Furia, A., Barbagallo, R. P., and Forti, G. (1999) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1413, 117-129). The activity of photosystem I and of cytochrome b(6)f as well as the coupling of thylakoid membranes was not affected by illumination under the same conditions. This allows repairing the damages to photosystem II thanks to cell capacity to maintain a high rate of ATP synthesis (via photosystem I-driven cyclic electron flow). This capacity might represent an important physiological tool in protecting the photosynthetic apparatus from excess of light as well as from other a-biotic stress conditions