04

Chlorophylls
are
the
key
pigment
molecules
driving
photosynthesis. Chlorophyll a is the
main photosynthetic pigment. All
photosynthetic plants, algae and
cyanobacteria contain chlorophyll a.
Accessory pigments like chlorophyll
b and carotenoids broaden the
spectrum. Chlorophyll b occurs only
in plants and in green algae.
Carotenoids are usually red, orange,
or yellow pigments, and include the
familiar compound carotene. They
absorb excess light that may
damage the chlorophylls. However,
they cannot transfer energy from
sunlight
directly
to
the
photosynthetic pathway, but must
pass their absorbed energy to
chlorophyll. For this reason, they are
called accessory pigments (Speer,
1995).

process. It ratifies the pigments

actually
involved
in
the
photosynthesis
(Speer,
1995).
Examples of effects measured by
action spectra are oxygen evolution
and hormonal growth responses due
to the action of phytochrome. Action
spectra were instrumental in the
discovery of the existence of the two
photosystems in Oxygen-evolving
photosynthetic
organisms.
T.W.
Engelmann, in the late 1800s, used
a prism to disperse sunlight into a
rainbow that was allowed to fall on
an
aquatic
algal
filament.
A
population of O2-seeking bacteria
was introduced into the system. The
bacteria congregated in the regions
of the filaments that evolved the
most O2. These were the regions
illuminated by blue light and red
light, which are strongly absorbed by
chlorophyll (Taiz et al., 2015).

13
An absorption spectrum is a
graph plot of a pigments light
absorption
versus
wavelength.
Violet-blue and red light work best
for photosynthesis. Green and yellow
lights are absorbed very little (Speer,
1995).

In special cases, photoexcited

electrons photoexcited electrons can
follow an alternative path called
cyclic electron flow, which uses
photosystem I but not photosystem II
(Sadava et al., 2009).

An action spectrum profiles the

relative effectiveness of different
wavelengths of radiation in driving a

Characterized
as
a
short
circuit, the electrons cycle back from
ferrodoxin (Fd) to the cytochrome

complex and from there continue to

a P700 chlorophyll in the PSI reaction
center
complex.
There
is
no
production of NADPH and no release
of oxygen. It does, however,
generate ATP through captured
energy from the flow of electrons
chemiosmosis. The last reduced
electron carrier (plastocyanin) passes
the electrons to the electrondeficient chlorophyll, allowing the
reactions to start again (Sadava et
al., 2009).
These occur species that
possess both photosystems, as well
as
in
several
groups
of
photosynthetic bacteria known to
lack PSII (Sadava et al., 2009).

accepts the electrons released by the

absorption of photons, and the
cytochrome subunit ligates the
electron donor hemes (Ort & Yocum,
1996).
The Reaction Center of Photosystem
II
The structure of PSII is
remarkably similar to the bacterial
reaction center and it is theorized
that they share a common ancestor.
The core of PSII consists of two
subunits referred to as D1 and D2,
which are similar to the L and M
subunits present in the bacterial
reaction center. PSII differs from the
bacterial reaction centers in that it
has many additional subunits which
bind
additional
chlorophylls
to
increase efficiency (McGill, 2007).
The Reaction Center of Photosystem
I

08
The Reaction
Bacteria

Center

of

Purple

The structure is comprised of

three proteins called L, M, and H
(Low, Medium, High) after their
apparent molecular masses on an
SDS PAGE. The L-M-H terminology is
still in use, but DNA sequencing has
resulted in a revision of the
molecular masses, so that L-M-H is
no longer accurate. The H subunit on
the side of the reaction center

The final stage of the light

reactions is catalyzed by PSI. PSI has
two main components forming its
core, psaA and psaB. These two
subunits are quite larger than the
core components of PSII and the
bacterial photosystem. Nonetheless,
the subunits are all homologous. The
electron donor would be the reduced
plastocyanin (Miles, 2003).

three carbon atoms (Berman et al.,

2000).

17
Inside plant cells, the enzyme
ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase
oxygenase (rubisco), takes carbon
dioxide and attaches it to ribulose
1,5-bisphosphate, a short sugar
chain with five carbon atoms.
Rubisco then clips the lengthened
chain
into
two
identical
phosphoglycerate pieces, each with

Phosphoglycerates are familiar

molecules in the cell, and they are
used in a variety of cell metabolism
pathways.
Most
of
the
phosophoglycerate made by rubisco
are recycled to build more ribulose
bisphosphate, to fuel carbon fixation.
But one out of every six molecules is
skimmed off and used as food for the
plant, or stored away in the form of
starch for later use (Berman et al.,
2000).

REFERENCES

Berman, H. M., Westbrook, J., Feng, Z., Gilliland, G., Bhat, T. N., Weissig, H., ... &
Bourne, P. E. (2000). The protein data bank. Nucleic acids research, 28(1), 235242.
Miles, B. (2003). Photosystems I and II. Lecture presented in TX, College
Station.
Retrieved
November
4,
2016,
from
https://www.tamu.edu/faculty/bmiles/lectures/photosystems.pdf
Ort, D. R., & Yocum, C. F. (Eds.). (1996). Oxygenic photosynthesis: the light
reactions (Vol. 4). Springer Science & Business Media.
Sadava, D. E., Hillis, D. M., Heller, H. C., & Berenbaum, M. (2009). Life: the
science of biology (Vol. 2). Macmillan.
Speer, B. (1995, July 4). Photosynthetic Pigments. Retrieved November 3, 2016,
from http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss3/pigments.html
Taiz, L., Zeiger, E., Mller, I. M., & Murphy, A. (2015). Plant physiology and
development. Sinauer Associates, Incorporated.