Revision Chapter 6: Photosynthesis

Unit 6.3: Light-independent Reactions (Calvin Cycle)

Question 1: Describe the process that occurs in the Calvin cycle in plants

1. Calvin cycle occurs in the stroma of the chloroplast.

2. It involves a series of reactions that results in the reduction of carbon dioxide
into carbohydrate.
3. NADPH and ATP, products of the light-dependent reaction provides the
reducing power and energy required in the reactions.
4. Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere combines with ribulose bisphosphate
(RuBP), a 5-carbon compound to form an unstable 6-carbon sugar.

5. The enzyme involved in this reaction is Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase

(RuBisCo).
6. The six-carbon compound immediately splits into two molecules of glycerate-3-
phosphate (GP), a 3-carbon compound.

7. Glycerate-3-phosphate is phosphorylated by ATP to become glycerate-1,3-

biphosphate.
8. The glycerate-1, 3-biphosphate is then reduced by NADPH and is converted into
glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (PGAL, triose phosphate), a 3-carbon sugar.
9. Some glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate(1/6 PGAL) is used to assimilate organic
molecules such as glucose, sucrose, starch, proteins and lipids.
10. The rest of the glyceraldehyde (5/6 PGAL) is converted in a series of complex
reactions to regenerate ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP).
11. The process requires ATP and a series of accessory enzymes.

Question 2: Explain the physiological features enhance the rate of production

of glucose per unit surface area of leaves and the growth rate of C 4 plants as
compared to C3 plants.
Answer:

1. The C4 pathway seems to be more efficient in carbon dioxide fixation than the C3
pathway.

2. C4 plants mostly grow in tropical and subtropical regions. Examples of C4 plants are
maize (Zea mays) and the sunflower (Helianthus sp.)

3. In the anatomy of C4 plant leaves, there are two layers of green cells that are filled
with chloroplasts:
i. the outer mesophyll cell layer
ii. the inner vascular bundle cell layer (also called bundle sheath cells layer)

4. The concentric arrangement pattern of these two layers around the vascular bundle
is known as Krantz anatomy.

5. In C4 plants, the bundle sheath cells contain many large chloroplasts but few small
grana. The light reaction here occurs at low rates producing few ATP,
NADPH and O2. The rate of CO2 fixation by RuBP carboxylase is high producing many
starch grains.

6. In mesophyll cells, the chloroplasts are few and small with large grana. The light
reaction rates here are high producing more ATP, NADPH and O 2. The CO2
fixation here is mainly by enzyme PEP carboxylase and not much by RUBP carboxylase
(Rubisco). The mesophyll cells have less starch grains.

7. C4 plants grow at a faster rate, particularly in tropical regions where the light
intensity and temperature are higher and it is relatively dry.
8. Under such adverse conditions, the stomatal openings may be minimised (to restrict
loss of water through transpiration) thus hampering the rate of CO2 intake into the
leaves.

9. However, these problems are overcome through two ways.

(i) The very efficient absorption of CO2 by the mesophyll cells even at low CO2
concentrations, allows a high concentration of CO2 in the bundle sheath cells.

(ii) The CO2 fixation enzyme system, namely PEP carboxylase, has a higher affinity for
CO2 as compared to RuBP carboxylase (Rubisco) in the C3 pathway.

Question 3: Explain the mechanism of C4 (Hatch-Slack) pathway.

Answer:

i. Carbon dioxide fixation

- CO2 acceptor is not 5C RuBP but a 3C compound called phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP).
- The product of CO2 fixation is a 4C compound called oxaloacetate (OA), the first
product of the C4 dark reaction.

ii. Reduction of oxaloacetate

-The oxaloacetate formed is then reduced by NADPH to produce malate.
-In C4 leaves, the malate is formed in the outer mesophyll cells and transported to the
inner bundle sheath cells.

iii. Regeneration of carbon dioxide and its acceptor PEP

-In these bundle sheath cells, carbon dioxide is regenerated through the metabolism of
malate to pyruvate.
-The CO2 molecule regenerated is essentially the CO2 molecule fixed in the carbon
dioxide fixation reaction.
-This regeneration reaction supplies a higher level of CO2 concentration. The CO2
molecules regenerated then enter the normal C3 pathway to undergo fixation.
-The pyruvate formed then enter the mesophyll cell, and is reduced by NADPH to
regenerate the CO2 acceptor phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP).
-This requires energy from the ATP produced during the light reaction .
- As a result of higher CO2 concentration and the advantage of the anatomy and
physiology of the C4 plant leaves, the production of carbohydrate is higher and more
efficient compared to C3 plants.
-This is also partly because the effect of photorespiration is halted by the high carbon
dioxide concentration.

Question 4: Explain briefly how the carbon dioxide fixation is different in C 3

plants than in C4 plants.

Answer:
1. In C3 plants, ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP) combines with carbon dioxide
while in C4 plants the carbon dioxide acceptor is phosphoenol-pyruvate (PEP).

2. In C3 plants, this reaction is catalysed by ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase

(Rubisco) which in C4 plants, the reaction between PEP and carbon dioxide
is catalysed by PEP carboxylase.

3. In C3 plants, the first product of carbon dioxide fixation is glycerate-3-

phosphate, a 3-carbon compound while in C4 plants, is oxaloacetate (OA), a
4-carbon compound.

4. In C3 plants, the carbon dioxide fixation occurs only once in mesophyll cells
while in C4 plants, it occurs twice, first in mesophyll cells and then in bundle
sheath cells.
Question 5: Explain how the CAM plants able to grow perfectly well in
extremely dry conditions such as in deserts.

Some green plants, for example, cactus, grow perfectly well in extremely dry conditions
such as in deserts. These plants store water in their succulent stems.

In such plants, loss of water through the epidermal cells and stomatal openings of the
leaves is minimised.

This is achieved through thick cuticle, and the closing of the stomata during the day to
reduce transpiration.

However, in reducing transpiration, the shutting of stomata during daytime block the
entry of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Although the entry of carbon dioxide is blocked during the day, photosynthesis
continues to take place.

This is because the plants can fix CO2 during the night, and then release it during
the day for the synthesis of complex organic substances.

This photosynthetic phenomenon was first discovered in the Crassulacean family of

plants, and hence the name crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM).

CAM occurs in xerophytes that are adapted to dry and hot conditions.