PHOTOSYNTHESIS

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THE SUN: MAIN SOURCE OF ENERGY FOR
LIFE ON EARTH
 THE BASICS OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS
• Almost all plants are photosynthetic
autotrophs, as are some bacteria and protists

– Autotrophs generate their own organic matter through

photosynthesis
– Sunlight energy is transformed to energy stored in the form of
chemical bonds

Euglena Cyanobacteria

Mosses, ferns, and

flowering plants
Why is Photosynthesis
important?
Makes organic molecules (glucose)
out of inorganic materials (carbon
dioxide and water).
It begins all food chains/webs. Thus
all life is supported by this process.
It also makes oxygen gas!!
Plants are primary producers – food chain

Energy source

Photosynthesis

Nutrient uptake

Image by inky2010
AN OVERVIEW OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS

⚫ Photosynthesis is the process by which

autotrophic organisms use light energy to
make sugar and oxygen gas from carbon
dioxide and water

Carbon Water Glucose Oxygen

dioxide gas
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
AN OVERVIEW OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Light
Chloroplast

⚫ The light reactions convert NADP+

solar energy to chemical ADP
+P
energy Calvin
– Produce ATP & NADPH Light cycle
reactions
• The Calvin cycle makes sugar
from carbon dioxide
– ATP generated by the light
reactions provides the
energy for sugar synthesis
– The NADPH produced by
the light reactions
provides the electrons for
the reduction of carbon
dioxide to glucose
 Photosynthesis and Life

⚫ During photosynthesis
– Organisms use the energy of light to build high-
energy organic molecules.
– Plants, algae and some bacteria can do this.
⚫ Can make their own food using light
⚫ Called photosynthetic autotrophs
⚫ 99.9% of all life on earth relies on
photosynthesis for their energy.
– Heterotrophs eat autotrophs.
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 Structure of a Leaf

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 Chloroplast

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 An Overview of Photosynthesis

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Electromagnetic spectrum
The solar spectrum and its relation to the absorption
spectrum of chlorophyll
 Light-capturing Events:
Fundamental Concepts
⚫ Visible light
– Combinations of different wavelengths of light
– Can be seen as different colors
⚫ Pigments are molecules that absorb light.
– Each pigment absorbs certain wavelengths of light.
– The wavelengths that they do not absorb, they reflect.
⚫ This is the color we see.
– In photosynthesis, only the wavelengths that are absorbed
can be used to do work.
⚫ Chlorophyll: The main photosynthetic pigment
– Two forms; a and b
– Absorb light in the blue and red portions of the spectrum
– Reflect green wavelengths
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Structure of some photosynthetic pigments
 Other Types of Pigments
⚫ Accessory pigments
– Include carotenoids
⚫ Absorb blue and green wavelengths
⚫ Reflect orange and yellow
⚫ Found in leaves, masked by chlorophyll
– In the autumn, when chlorophyll disintegrates,
accessory pigments show through (fall colors).
⚫ Chlorophyll + accessory pigments
– Organized into photosystems that harvest the energy
from many wavelengths of light
– Found in thylakoids of the chloroplasts
⚫ When pigments absorb light
– Some of their electrons become “excited”
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Absorption spectra of photosynthetic pigments
Photosynthesis: Fundamental Description

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 Light-dependent Reactions:
Fundamental Concepts
⚫ The excited electrons from chlorophyll
– Are passed through an electron transport chain
– The energy released is used to pump protons up their
concentration gradient.
– When protons diffuse through ATP synthase, ATP is made.
⚫ Excited electrons passed to NADP+ to make NADPH
⚫ Water is split
– Electrons are donated to chlorophyll to replace the donated
electrons.
– Oxygen is produced.
⚫ Occurs in the thylakoid membrane
– ATP and NADPH move to the stroma to be used in the dark
reactions.
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Basic concept of energy transfer during
photosynthesis
 Light-capturing Events: The Details
⚫ Photosystems

– Structures in which the light-capturing events take

place
– Found in the thylakoid membranes
– Made up of antenna complexes and a reaction center
⚫ Networks of chlorophyll and accessory pigments
⚫ Capture the energy in many different wavelengths
of light and pass it to the reaction center
– The reaction center is a special chlorophyll
molecule that passes its excited electrons to an
electron acceptor.
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– There are two photosystems, I and II.
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 PS II and I: How They Interact

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Transfer of electrons and protons in thylakoid
membrane
 Cyclic Photophosphorylation
⚫ Process for ATP generation associated with
some Photosynthetic Bacteria
⚫ Reaction Center => 700 nm
 Noncyclic Photophosphorylation
⚫ Photosystem II regains electrons by splitting
water, leaving O2 gas as a by-product

Primary
electron acceptor

Primary
electron acceptor

Photons

Energy for
synthesis of

PHOTOSYSTEM I

PHOTOSYSTEM II by chemiosmosis
 Light-independent Reactions:
Fundamental Concepts
⚫ The ATP and NADPH from the light-dependent
reactions
– Provide the energy and electrons needed to build sugar
from carbon dioxide
⚫ CO2 is captured by an enzyme called RuBisCO
– Combines CO2 with ribulose to form a 6-carbon molecule
⚫ This is immediately split into two 3-C molecules.
⚫ NADPH is used to reduce these molecules.
⚫ Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate is formed.
– Can be used to make sugars, proteins or fats

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 Light Independent Reactions:
The Details

⚫ Takes place in the stroma of the chloroplast

⚫ Uses
– CO2 (from the atmosphere)
– ATP and NADPH (from the light-independent
reactions)
– Ribulose (recycled)
⚫ Also called the dark reactions
⚫ Also called the Calvin cycle

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The light and carbon reactions of
photosynthesis
 The Calvin Cycle

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 Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate:
The Product of Photosynthesis

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 Photorespiration
Increase in Temperature:
•Modifies the kinetic constants of rubisco, increasing the rate of
oxygenation more than that of carboxylation
•Lowers the concentration of CO2 more than that of O2 in a
solution in equibilirium

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C2 oxidative photosynthetic cycle
Kranz anatomy in a C4
C4 photosynthetic pathway; Kranz
anatomy, compartmentalization in cell
C4 photosynthetic cycle
 C4 Plants

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Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM)
10/23/2023
38
 Other metabolites produced by plants

Foxglove Cannabis Coffea plant

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 Relationship between Photosynthesis and
Cellular Respiration

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