The following scientific autobiography is presented here as a homage to Professor Kazuo Shibata, who is the one who led me to do research in photosynthesis. He had invited me to Riken (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), and had launched the Japan-US Collaboration Project on "The Solar Energy Conversion by Means of Photosynthesis" and had invited many international scientists to Riken. My research, under Shibata, started on using a sensitive method for the determination of chlorophyll b, and of SDS-PAGE for the pigment protein complexes of the two photosystems. After Shibata had passed away at the age of 66, I found post-illumination CO2 burst from cyanobacterial cell suspensions. This finding led me to study the CO2-concentrating mechanism (CCM) and the function and structure of NADP(H) dehydrogenase complexes (NDH-I) in cyanobacteria, which were developed after I had moved to Nagoya University, and in several other laboratories in the world after I had retired from Nagoya University.

Kamisaginomiya 3 17 11 Nakano ku Tokyo 165 0031 Japan

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Ogawa T.: Identification and characterization of the ictA/ndhL gene product essential to inorganic carbon transport of Synechocystis PCC6803. – Plant Physiol. 99: 1604-1608, 1992. 10.1104/pp.99.4.1604 PubMed DOI PMC

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Ogawa T., Ishikawa H., Shimada K., Shibata K.: Synergistic action of red and blue light and action spectra for malate formation in guard cells of Vicia faba L. – Planta 142: 61-65, 1978. 10.1007/BF00385121 PubMed DOI

Ogawa T., Kanai R., Shibata K.: Distribution of carotenoids in the two photochemical systems of higher plants and algae. – In: Shibata K., Takamiya A., Jagendorf A.T., Fuller R.C. (ed.): Comparative Biochemistry and Biophysics of Photosynthesis. Pp. 22-35. University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo: 1968. https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.211935/page/23/mode/2up

Ogawa T., Obata F., Shibata K.: Two pigment proteins in spinach chloroplasts. – BBA-Biophysics 112: 223-234, 1966. 10.1016/0926-6585(66)90323-2 PubMed DOI

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Ogawa T., Shibata K.: A sensitive method for determining chlorophyll b in plant extracts. – Photochem. Photobiol. 4: 193-200, 1965. 10.1111/j.1751-1097.1965.tb05736.x DOI

Ogawa T., Shibata K.: A simple porometer for precise recording of leaf resistance. – Plant Cell Physiol. 14: 1039-1043, 1973. 10.1093/oxfordjournals.pcp.a074921 DOI

Ogawa T., Vernon L.P.: A fraction from Anabaena variabilis enriched in the reaction center chlorophyll P700. – BBA-Bioenergetics 180: 334-346, 1969. 10.1016/0005-2728(69)90118-2 PubMed DOI

Ogawa T., Vernon L.P., Mollenhauer H.H.: Properties and structure of fractions prepared from Anabaena variabilis by the use of Triton X-100. – BBA-Bioenergetics 172: 216-229, 1969. 10.1016/0005-2728(69)90065-6 PubMed DOI

Ohkawa H., Pakrasi H.B., Ogawa T.: Two types of functionally distinct NAD(P)H dehydrogenases in Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803. – J. Biol. Chem. 275: 31630-31634, 2000. 10.1074/jbc.M003706200 PubMed DOI

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Shibata M., Katoh H., Sonoda M. et al..: Genes essential to sodium-dependent bicarbonate transport in cyanobacteria: Function and phylogenetic analysis. – J. Biol. Chem. 277: 18658-18664, 2002. 10.1074/jbc.M112468200 PubMed DOI

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Zeiger E., Iino M., Shimazaki K., Ogawa T.: The blue-light response of stomata: Mechanism and function. – In: Zeiger E., Farquhar G.D., Cowan I.R. (ed.): Stomatal Function. Pp. 209-227. Stanford University Press, Stanford: 1987.

Zhang P., Battchikova N., Jansen T. et al..: Expression and functional roles of the two distinct NDH-1 complexes and the carbon acquisition complex NdhD3/NdhF3/CupA/Sll1735 in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. – Plant Cell 16: 3326-3340, 2004. 10.1105/tpc.104.026526 PubMed DOI PMC