Prasanna K. Mohanty (1934-2013): a great photosynthetiker and a wonderful human being who touched the hearts of many

David (Dave) Charles Fork (1929-2020): a gentle human being, a great experimenter, and a passionate researcher

We provide here an overview of the remarkable life and outstanding research of David (Dave) Charles Fork (March 4, 1929-December 13, 2021) in oxygenic photosynthesis. In the words of the late Jack Edgar Myers, he was a top 'photosynthetiker'. His research dealt with novel findings on light absorption, excitation energy distribution, and redistribution among the two photosystems, electron transfer, and their relation to dynamic membrane change as affected by environmental changes, especially temperature. David was an attentive listener and a creative designer of experiments and instruments, and he was also great fun to work with. He is remembered here by his family, coworkers, and friends from around the world including Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Israel, and USA.

Comprehensive functional annotation of susceptibility variants identifies genetic heterogeneity between lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma

Although genome-wide association studies have identified more than eighty genetic variants associated with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) risk, biological mechanisms of these variants remain largely unknown. By integrating a large-scale genotype data of 15 581 lung adenocarcinoma (AD) cases, 8350 squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) cases, and 27 355 controls, as well as multiple transcriptome and epigenomic databases, we conducted histology-specific meta-analyses and functional annotations of both reported and novel susceptibility variants. We identified 3064 credible risk variants for NSCLC, which were overrepresented in enhancer-like and promoter-like histone modification peaks as well as DNase I hypersensitive sites. Transcription factor enrichment analysis revealed that USF1 was AD-specific while CREB1 was SqCC-specific. Functional annotation and gene-based analysis implicated 894 target genes, including 274 specifics for AD and 123 for SqCC, which were overrepresented in somatic driver genes (ER = 1.95, P = 0.005). Pathway enrichment analysis and Gene-Set Enrichment Analysis revealed that AD genes were primarily involved in immune-related pathways, while SqCC genes were homologous recombination deficiency related. Our results illustrate the molecular basis of both well-studied and new susceptibility loci of NSCLC, providing not only novel insights into the genetic heterogeneity between AD and SqCC but also a set of plausible gene targets for post-GWAS functional experiments.

Satish Chandra Maheshwari (1933-2019)-a brilliant, passionate and an outstanding shining light for all of plant biology

We present here a tribute to Satish Chandra Maheshwari (known to many as SCM, or simply Satish), one of the greatest plant biologists of our time. He was born on October 4, 1933, in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, and passed away in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, on June 12, 2019. He is survived by two of his younger sisters (Sushila Narsimhan and Saubhagya Agrawal), a large number of friends and students from around the world. He has not only been the discoverer of pollen haploids in plants but has also contributed immensely to the field of duckweed research and gene regulation. In addition, he has made discoveries in the area of phytochrome research. The scientific community will always remember him as an extremely dedicated teacher and a passionate researcher; and for his wonderful contributions in the field of Plant Biology. See Sopory and Maheshwari (2001) for a perspective on the beginnings of Plant Molecular Biology in India; and see Raghuram (2002a, b) for the growth and contributions of this field in India.

Frederick Yi-Tung Cho (1939-2011) : His PhD days in Biophysics, the Photosynthesis Lab, and his patents in engineering physics

We present here a Tribute to Frederick Yi-Tung Cho (1939-2011), an innovative and ingenious biophysicist and an entrepreneur. He was one of the 4 earliest PhD students [see: Cederstrand (1965)-Carl Nelson Cederstrand; coadvisor: Eugene Rabinowitch; Papageorgiou (1968)-George C. Papageorgiou (coauthor of this paper); and Munday (1968)-John C. Munday Jr. (also a coauthor of this paper)] of one of us (Govindjee) in Biophysics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) during the late 1960s (1963-1968). Fred was best known, in the photosynthesis circle for his pioneering work on low temperature (down to liquid helium temperature, 4 K) absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy of photosynthetic systems; he showed temperature independence of excitation energy transfer from (i) chlorophyll (Chl) b to Chl a and (ii) from Chl a 670 to Chl a 678; and temperature dependence of energy transfer from the phycobilins to Chl a and from Chl a 678 to its suggested trap. After doing research in biophysics of photosynthesis, Fred shifted to do research in solid-state physics/engineering in the Government Electronics Division (Group) of the Motorola Company, Scottsdale, Arizona, from where he published research papers in that area and had several patents granted. We focus mainly on his days at the UIUC in context of the laboratory in which he worked. We also list some of his papers and most of his patents in engineering physics. His friends and colleagues have correctly described him as an innovator and an ingenious scientist of the highest order. On the personal side, he was a very easy-going and amiable individual.

Teaching the Z-Scheme of electron transport in photosynthesis: a perspective

This paper deals with how Govindjee taught the Z-Scheme of electron transport in oxygenic photosynthesis at Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha, India, in 2014, in a unique and highly effective fashion-using students to act as molecules, representing the entire electron transport chain from water to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP(+)). It culminated in a show by B.Sc. students in the garden of the Department of Botany, Ravenshaw University. The first author (PKM) personally acted as Ferredoxin NADP Reductase (FNR) catalyzing the reduction of NADP(+) to NADPH, taking electrons from reduced ferredoxin at the end of Photosystem I. On the other hand, the Q-cycle was played by M.Sc. students, who acted as molecules running this ingenious cycle that produces extra protons. An interesting event was when a student, acting as a herbicide, who was dressed like a devil (fierce looking, in black clothes with a sword; "Yamaraj: The God of Death", as he called himself), stopped all reactions by throwing out QB, the second plastoquinone molecule of Photosystem II, and that too aggressively, taking its position instead. The second author was the major organizer of the Z-scheme show. We provide here a basic background on the process, a bit on Govindjee's teaching, and some selected pictures from the drama played in March, 2014 at Ravenshaw University. Here, we also recognize the teacher Govindjee for his ingenious and fun-filled teaching methods that touched the hearts and the souls of the students as well as the teachers of Ravenshaw University. He was rated as one of the most-admired teachers of plant biology at our university.