FEATURES

STRUCTURE PARTS FUNCTIONS

a. LEAF STRUCTURE CUTICLE - Protective wax layer

- Reduces water loss

UPPER - Gas exchange

EPIDERMIS - Few stomata to prevent water loss

VASCULAR - Contains xylem and phloem

BUNDLE

MESOPHYLL PALISADE - Cells closely packed

LAYER - Chloroplasts located at the periphery of the cells
for maximum light absorption

SPONGY - Cells loosely packed

- Chloroplasts are spaced out
- Captures light that is not capture by the palisade
layer

LOWER GUARD - Regulate balance between water loss and CO2

EPIDERMIS CELLS intake
(Get the optimum amount of each for max rate of
photosynthesis)

- Control the opening and closing of stomata

depending on their turgidity

STOMATA - Minute pores that aid in gaseous exchange

- Controlled by guard cells
b. CHLOROPLAST OUTER AND
INNER
MEMBRANE

INTERMEMBRANE
SPACE

THYLAKOID THYLAKOID - Location of photosystems

MEMBRANE - Required for light dependent reactions take place

STROMA
 PROCESSES
A. PHOTOSYSTEM
- INVOLVES ELECTRON EXCITATION
- INVOLVES PHOTOSYNTHETIC PIGMENTS OF DIFFERENT
LOCATIONS FEATURES PROCESS

Thylakoid REACTION CENTRE 1. Photon enters light harvesting complexes and energy is
membrane - Special chlorophyll absorbed by photosynthetic pigments
a
- Primary electron 2. Pigment molecule absorb energy from photon
acceptor → transferred from pigment molecule to pigment
molecule finally to special chlorophyll a in the reaction
LIGHT HARVESTING centre
COMPLEXES
- Pigment molecules 3. Electron in ground state chlorophyll is excited
→ have different → accepted by primary electron acceptor

B. ABSORPTION AND ACTION SPECTRA

ABSORPTION SPECTRA ACTION SPECTRA

Record the amount of light absorbed by photosynthetic pigments Records the amount of photosynthesis occurring at each wavelength
 REACTIONS
TYPE OF LOCATION REACTION DETAILS
REACTION

LIGHT a. NON CYCLIC ELECTRON FLOW

DEPENDENT Thylakoid Utilisation of light and water to form H2O, ATP and NADPH
membrane
photosystem II
1. energy from photon is transferred from one pigment molecule to
another
- electrons in molecules are simultaneously raised to excited and fall
back to ground state

2. energy is transferred to the P680 pair of chlorophyll a and excited

electron is accepted by the primary electron acceptor
- The resulting from of P680 is P680+ due to a missing electrons
- Electron accepted must be replaced via Photolysis of water (H2O →
4H+ + O2 + 4e-

Transfer of photo excited electron from photosystem II to I

1. facilitated by electron transport chain made up of electron carriers
- Plastoquinone
- Cytochrome complex
- Plastocyanin

2. Transported to PS II to replace the excited electron later on

Photosystem I
1. Energy is transferred from one photosynthetic pigment molecule to
another like in PS II
2. Energy is transferred to P700 pair of chlorophyll to the primary
 electron acceptor
- Resulting form is P700+
- Accepts electron that comes from PS I through electron transport
chain

Transfer of photoexcited electron to NADP+

1. facilitated by electron transport chain containing ferredoxin
- Catalysed by NADP+ reductase

2. 2 electrons required to reduce NADP+ to NADPH

*Synthesis of ATP occurs

→ exergonic “fall” in energy level of electrons due electron transport chain
→ pumps protons from stroma through the thylakoid membrane into the
thylakoid space.
- Protons derived from Photolysis of water (H2O → 4H+ + O2 + 4e-)
- Used in chemiosmosis

b. CHEMIOSMOSIS

1. Generation of ATP
- Electrons transported down the electron transport chain
→ gets more electronegative
→ transforms redox energy to a proton motive force (potential energy
stored in the form of a proton gradient
- Pumps proton across membrane through ATP synthase to create
proton gradient (active transport from stroma to thylakoid space)

2. ATP synthase present in the same membrane

- Couples diffusion of the H+ protons down the gradient to
phosphorylate ADP to form ATP
 3. Thylakoid space is a H+ reservoir
- Thylakoid membrane pumps protons from the stroma to the
thylakoid space
- Protons diffuse back to stroma after ATP synthesis

c. CYCLIC ELECTRON FLOW

- Makes use of only PS I

- No NADPH production and no oxygen release
- Generation of ATP still occurs

** Calvins cycle uses more ATP than NADPH but non cyclic electron flow
produces equal amounts of each
- Difference in supply and demand of NADPH and ATP
- Thus there will be a temporary shift from non cyclic to cyclic electron
flow to generate more ATP and stop NADPH production that the calvin
cycle requires to keep up with the amount of NADPH

LIGHT stroma a. CALVINS CYCLE

INDEPENDENT Conversion of CO2 to carbohydrates
*for every 3 CO2 molecules a total of 9 ATP and 6 NADPH molecules are used

1. CARBON FIXATION
- 3CO2 + 3 Ribulose biphosphate (RuBP 5C compound) →
3 unstable 6C compounds
- catalysed by rubisco
- 3 molecules of CO2 used to forms 3 6C compounds
- Unstable 3 6C compound immediately splits into 2 3 -
phosphoglycerate (total of 6)
 2. REDUCTION
- 3-phosphoglycerate + additional phosphate group from ATP →
1,3 bisphosphoglycerate
- 1,3-biphosphoglycerate + NADPH → 6 G3P ( 3C sugar)
-

3. RuBP REGENERATION
- 1 G3P used for sugar
- Rearrangement of 5 G3P to form 3 RuBP
→ requires ATP

EFFECTS
Photosynthesis is a biochemical reaction which rate is affected by limiting factors
a. light Increase in light intensity = increase in rate of photosynthesis
- Saturation point: when an increase in light intensity does not affect the rate of
photosynthesis ss the max rate has been reached

b. CO2 concentration Increase in CO2 concentration = increase in rate of photosynthesis

c. temperature Increase in temp = increase in rate of photosynthesis ONLY TO A CERTAIN TEMP

- Optimal temperature for enzymes to function during photosynthesis
- Anything beyond optimal temperature will cause denaturation and