Bennet Reiter: The Plant Cell First Author

Bennet Reiter, first author of “CGL160-mediated recruitment of the coupling factor CF1 is required for efficient thylakoid ATP synthase assembly, photosynthesis, and chloroplast development in Arabidopsis”

Current Position:  Medical Writer, Advanced Medical Services

Education: Dr. rer. nat. in Biology at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

Non-scientific Interests: Gardening, Origami

Brief bio:

I have completed my Master’s degree and Ph.D. in the Leister group under the supervision of Thilo Rühle. My work mainly focused on the assembly of multiprotein complexes in the chloroplast of Arabidopsis. We characterized the function of the ATP synthase β-subunit chaperone CGLD11/BFA3, the ribosome biogenesis factor CGL20, and are now very happy to publish our work on the green lineage-specific, soluble domain of CGL160 in ‘The Plant Cell’. We could show that the stroma exposed moiety of the c-ring assembly factor also recruits the soluble head of the ATP synthase. CGL160 likely evolved from a cyanobacterial ancestor and its newly acquired function may provide the basis for assembly-mediated regulation of ATP synthase activity.