Annual Report 2003

on Lepidopteran Genomics”.NIAS-COE International Symposium: “Plant Metabolism: MolecularMechanisms and Engineering”An international symposium entitled “Plant Metabolism: Molecular Mechanisms andEngineering” was held on November 19-20, 2002, at Tsukuba International Congress Center,Tsukuba, with more than 160 participants. Research in plant metabolism has been expandingrapidly in the last few years, and this symposium aimed at outlining recent progress and discussingfuture perspectives in this research field. Four different sessions on primary metabolismin leaves, translocation, metabolism in sing organs, and secondary metabolism were held,and 16 presentations, 8 from overseas and 8 from Japan, were given. Four invited discussantssuccessfully activated discussion of each session, and participants enjoyed formal and informaldiscussion with speakers and other participants.NIAS/BRAIN International Symposium:“Molecular Mechanism ofGibberellin/Brassinosteroid Signal Transduction”The NIAS/BRAIN International Symposium entitled Molecular Mechanism ofGibberellin/Brassinosteroid Signal Transduction was held on November 21-22, 2003, atTsukuba International Congress Center (Epochal Tsukuba) with approximately 200 participants.Sixteen invited speakers (6 from overseas and 10 Japanese) gave presentations on molecularmechanisms of signal transduction involved in plant hormones. Brassinosteroids andgibberellins are essential plant growth-promoting natural products that are required duringnormal plant elongation and development. A poster session on the progress of functionalanalysis of gibberellin and brassinosteroid signal transduction was also included in the 2-daysymposium. The emergence of novel mechanisms for signal transduction involving these planthormones should be elucidated further using molecular genetics, protein chemistry and informationobtained from the rice and Arabidopsis genome. Altering plant function will helpdevelop the next generation of rice plants with ideal grass type, high-yield and improved grainquality. The delegates and other participants were impressed by the rapid progress in thisfield and by the discovery of previously unknown types of gene regulation mechanisms,improving understanding of the role of plant hormones in growth and development.The 4th ORCS International Symposium: “Development of New StructuralBiology Including Hydrogen and Hydration”The ORCS International Symposium has been held annually during the project years asone of the events of the ORCS project (Organized Research Combination System) by NIAS andJEARI. This year we held our symposium on November 21-12, 2002, at Epochal InternationalCongress Center, Tsukuba. The purpose of the symposium was to promote understanding ofthe new field of structural biology by including information on protonation and hydration inproteins and DNA, using not only neutron diffraction experiments on large protein/DNA singlecrystals, but also X-ray diffraction and NMR experiments, and computer simulations.The guest speakers was those working at the forefront of scientific research around theworld. Nine scientists from abroad, and 11 working in Japan participated. The latest dataand new issues in the lectures stimulated very lively and productive question and answer ses-Annual Report 2003 141