Photosynthesis

q Photo means ‘light’ and synthesis means

‘to make’
q Process in which plants convert carbon
dioxide and water into sugars using solar
energy
q Occurs in chloroplast
6 CO2 + 6 H2O C6 H12 O6 + 6 O2
carbon dioxide + water = sugar + oxygen

Reactants Products

photosynthetic products often stored as starch

• Starch = glucose polymer
Photosynthesis can be broken down into the following
sequential events:
1. Trapping of light energy by chloroplasts
2. Splitting of water and release of high-energy electrons
and O2
3. Electron transfer leading to generation of chemical
energy as ATP and reducing power as NADPH
4. Terminal steps of involving expenditure of energy of
ATP and the reducing power of NADPH to fix CO2
molecules in phosphoglyrecic acid (PGA) and reduce it
to phosphoglyceraldehyde , and finally to convert this
compund into more complex carbohydrates such as
glucose.
 The photosynthetic mechanism in trees

Light reactions
-  Involve events that capture light energy and
result in production of ATP and NADPH.
-  They proceed very rapidly, usually taking
less than millisecond (10-3 s) and often
occurring in picosecond (10-12 s).
-  The products of the light reactions are
utilized in a variety of ways, but principally in
fixation of carbon dioxide and reaction of the
resultant product to sugar.
q Light dependent process; require the direct
energy of light to make energy carrier
molecules that are used in the second process.
q Occurs in the grana
q Involves P680 and P700 photosystems

Two processes:
a. cyclic photophosphorylation - produces
energy needed for the light reaction
b. non-cyclic photophosphorylation -
produces NADPH and ATP to be used by the
dark reaction
Photosynthesis (two-stage process)

Mayer, 2008
 5
4
3
1

2
 Light Chloroplast

NADP+
q The light reactions ADP
+P
convert solar Calvin
energy to chemical Light
reactions
cycle

energy

§  Produce ATP & NADPH

Campbell, N.A. Biology, 4th ed., Menlo Park, CA:

Benjamin/Cummings, 1996. Chapter 1
Capturing Energy
 Leaf anatomical characteristics
-  Microtome sectioning (Histological paraffin technique)

FAA solution
 LOGO

Copyright © 2000 by Addison Wesley Langman Inc.

LOGO
LOGO
 Chloroplast pigments
v Chloroplasts contain several pigments

Purves et al., 1994

Photochemistry
-  Photosynthesis begins with a very brief
encounter between a photon of light and a
molecule of pigment, during which an
electron in the pigment moves to higher
energy state.
-  The pigment may be a carotenoid, but more
often it is chlorophyll associated with protein
molecules and arranged into an identifiable
light-harvesting complex.
LHC of one
photosystem is
composed of three
groups of 15
chlorophyll molecules
and several
carotenoids
molecules embedded
in the thylakoid
membrane with an
intimately associated
polypeptide
Reaction centers –
the pigment-protein
complexes involved
in photochemical
reactions.

Two reaction centers

of green plants:
a. Photosystem I
b. Photosystem II
 Photosystems

q  Arrangements of chlorophyll and other

pigments packed into thylakoids.

q  Photosystem I uses chlorophyll a, in the form

referred to as P700.

q  Photosystem II uses a form of chlorophyll a

known as P680.
Electron Transport
- The charge separation is a key event in the flow
of electrons through a series of molecules acting
as electron donors and receptors.
- From an oxidation-reduction perspective, the
complete mechanism of electron transport in the
light reactions resembles a letter “Z” (Z scheme).
- Electrons are passed from donors of higher
(more negative) to lower redox potential.
- The ultimate donor to PSII is water, with
molecular oxygen as a product, but the
mechanism is unclear.
Cytochrome b6f
complex, which is
reduced from the
reducing side of PS II
by plastoquinone
(PQ) and gives up its
electron to
plastocyanin, is found
between grana discs
and the stromal
thylakoid
Plastoquinone is a lipid soluble and free to diffuse
within the membrane, while plastocyanin may
diffuse into the aqueous lumen space of thylakoids.

The diffusibility of these compounds is quite

significant because it overcomes the apparent
spatial incompatibility of the photosystems and Cyt
b6f.

A cyclic path for electron transport also exists

between PS I and Cyt b6f and transport within this
cycle allows the synthesis of ATP.
NADP+ Reduction
Ferredoxin, an iron-sulfur
protein, is reduced after
electron transport through PS I.
Ferrredoxin, in turn, is
oxidezed by an enzyme, NADP
+ reductase, which is found on
the stroma-facing surfaces of
thylakoids. This enzyme
reduces NADP+ to NADPH,
providing the reducing power
by which fixed carbon dioxide
is converted to simple
carbohydrates.
Phosphorylation
The production of ATP using the energy of sunlight.
Formation of ATP in chloroplasts is catalyzed by
ATP synthase (called coupling factor), an enzyme
found on stromal and external granal surfaces.

The ATP synthase consists of two components:

a. F0 protein complex – located in the membrane and
provides a channel for H+ ions to cross the thylakoid
membrane.
b. F1 protein complex – consists of several protein subunits
and rests on the F0 complex on the membrane exterior.
Photoinhibition
It is a light-induced reduction in the photosynthetic
capacity of a plant. It is the result of damaged in the
chlorophyll by the enhanced activity of electrons
beyond that which it can process during high light
intensities.

Shade-tolerant species and plants developed in the

shade are particularly prone to photoinhibition.
 Dark reactions (Calvin cycle)

q Light independent process; occurs when the

products of the light reaction are used to form
C-C covalent bonds of carbohydrates

q Usually occur in the dark if the energy carriers

from the light process are present

q Take place in the stroma

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Carbon dioxide-fixing enzymes

Most herbaceous crop plants and nearly all woody

plants are termed C3 plants because after CO2
combines within the 5-carbon sugar ribulose
biphosphate (RuBP), two molecules of the
three-carbon compound phosphoglyceric
acid (PGA) are produced in Calvin-Benson
cycle.

Rubisco – carboxylating enzyme and also function

as an oxygenase; highly regulated enzyme.
Types of regulation of the activity of Rubisco:

a. Binding of Mg2+ and CO2

b. Influences of RUBP concentration and pH
c. Activation by light and “activase enzymes”
d. Inhibition caused by certain metabolites

C4 or Hatch-Slack pathway – phosphoenol

pyruvic acid (C3) is the CO2 acceptor and
phosphoenolphyruvate carboxylase (PEP
carboxylase) is the carboxylating enzyme. This
enzyme has very high affinity for CO2 and is not
inhibited by O2, as is Rubisco.
An important characteristics of plants having C4
pathway is very low rate of photorespiration than
C3 plants.

Photorespiration – light-dependent production of

CO2 by photosynthetic tissue.
- Protects from damage a highly illuminated
photosynthetic mechanism deprived of external
CO2.
 Types of photosynthesis
C3 plants
§  Majority of the plants (except
many grasses)
§  Become light saturated at a lower
light intensity and their rate of
photosynthesis is increased if the
oxygen is lowered.
§  Lack the large bundle sheath cells
§  High CO2 compensation point
(activity of Rubisco inhibited by
oxygen)
§  All of carbon fixation and
photosynthesis happens in
mesophyll cells just on the surface
of the leaf
Taub, 2010
§  CO2 + RUBP =2PGA
C4 plants

q  Carbon fixation and

photosynthesis split
between the mesophyll
cells and bundle sheath
cells
q  Have advantages in
high light, high
temperature, low CO2
q  Many grasses and
crops (e.g., corn,
sorghum, sugar cane)
Taub, 2010
q  CO2 + PEP = OAA
CAM (Crassulacean Acid Metabolism) plants

q  Photosynthesis takes place in the mesophyll

cells, but carbon fixation (and opening of
stomata) takes place at night and the Calvin
cycle happens during the day.