Methods for Analysis of Carbohydrate Metabolism in Photosynthetic Organisms

Horacio Guillermo Pontis was born in Mendoza, Argentina in 1928. He graduated from the University of Buenos Aires chemistry school and obtained his doctorate working in organic chemistry in 1951. He worked alongside Professor Luis F. Leloir for three years, who influenced his interest in carbohydrate metabolism, sugar phosphates and sugar nucleotides. He spent a long stay at King College, Durham University (UK) and at Karolinska Institutet, University of Stockholm (Sweden), where he started enzymology studies with Prof. Peter Reichard. After his return to Argentina in 1960, he began his work on the field of plant biochemistry, studying fructan and sucrose metabolism. In connection with these studies, he synthesized fructose-2-phosphate, the first ketose that allowed other researchers the chemical synthesis of fructose-2,6, diphosphate (a key glycolysis activator) two decades later. Since 1961, he has been a member of the National Research Council of Argentina and Professor of Biochemistry, firstly at the University of Buenos Aires and then at University of Mar del Plata. He was President of the Sociedad Argentina de Investigacion Bioquimica. In Mar del Plata (Argentina), he set up the Institute for Biological Research at the University, and together with Prof. Leloir, they established the Foundation for Biochemical Applied Research (FIBA), where as Head of its Biological Research Center, he maintained an active research group, training graduate and post-graduate students and producing a steady flow of research publications.At present, Pontis is Professor Emeritus of University of Mar del Plata and Emeritus Researcher and vice-president of FIBA. His important contribution to plant biochemistry was recognized by the Argentinean Society of Plant Physiology and by the American Society of Plant Biologists, which awarded him as a corresponding member.