PHOTOSYNTHESIS

“Food is simply sunlight in cold storage.”

-John Harvey Kellogg
▹ Acorns have a
mass of 3-4
grams.

▹ Mature oak trees

have a mass of
about 8 tons.

▹Where do plants get all

of that matter from?
▹ The initial hypothesis was that plants grew by “eating” soil.
▹ This was assumed to be true and not tested until the 17th century.
1. Discovery of
Photosynthesis
How plants use energy and matter to build sugars.
 ▹ Jean Baptiste Van Helmont
planted a Willow tree
sapling in a pot of dry soil.
▹ Recorded mass of both.
▹ After five years, he dried
the soil and weighed both
again.
Tree
2.3kg ▹ The old hypothesis was
Tree
rejected. 76.8kg
Soil
Soil
90.8kg
90.76kg
 • The first molecule involved in photosynthesis was discovered
with a famous experiment conducted by Joseph Priestley in
1804.

A mouse was placed A second mouse was

in a sealed bell jar placed in a jar with a
and died a short time mint plant and
later. survived.
He called the air He said the air was
“injured.” “restored”.

What molecule did Priestley actually discover?

Oxygen (O2)
 ◉ Air is now known to be a mixture made primary of:

Carbon dioxide:
Compound

Nitrogen:
Air:
Element
Mixture

Water:
Compound
Oxygen:
Element

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▹ Jan Ingenhousz observed underwater
plants in sunlight and in near-
darkness.

▹ The plants in light released bubbles of

oxygen; plants in darkness released
nothing.
▹ Demonstrated that energy is needed to
for the process to occur.
 What types of energy
are present here?

Sunlight is kinetic
energy because it
travels in waves. Plant tissues are
potential energy
because they contain
many chemical bonds.

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▹ Electromagnetic energy is kinetic energy with the ability to travel
through space as waves.
▸ Each wavelength is shown in the electromagnetic spectrum:

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The sun primarily releases three wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation that
affect life and the Earth:

Ultraviolet Visible Infrared

Can penetrate living Range of wavelengths Heat energy
tissue and cause detectable by the Visible to some
damage human eye nocturnal species –
Visible by some bats, snakes,
species (mainly mosquitoes
insects)

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• Ingenhousz demonstrated that
plants use visible light. Further
experimentation narrowed it
down to the blue, orange, and
red wavelengths.

• Yellow and green wavelengths

are reflected, which is why we
perceive plants as green.
▹ Nicolas de Saussure grew
periwinkles in sealed
containers, measuring the
elements in the air.
▹ Plants gain their mass by Oxygen
performing photosynthesis, Carbon dioxide
decreased by
Increased by
292mL

where carbon dioxide is absorbed 431mL

from the air and converted to

sugars using sunlight for energy.
▹ The exact chemical equation for
photosynthesis is:

6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2

Carbon Water Sugar Oxygen
dioxide Oxygen
Carbon dioxide Increased by
decreased by 292mL

▹ Carbon dioxide (and water)

431mL

provide the matter, while sunlight

provides the energy.
▹ Photosynthesis and cell respiration complement each other, forming
the basis of the flow of energy and cycling of matter in all
ecosystems.

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2. Leaf Anatomy
How leaves are constructed to maximize photosynthesis.
▹ The epidermis is a single cell layer that regulates gas exchange and
protects inner leaf tissues.
epidermis

epidermis 21
▹ The epidermis is lined by a waxy cuticle that prevents drying out.
▹ Guard cells open and close pores called stoma to allow air movement.
epidermis

cuticle 22
stoma guard cell epidermis
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▹ Xylem tubules transport and store water, while phloem tubules
transport sugars and proteins.
epidermis

xylem phloem

cuticle 25
stoma guard cell epidermis
▹ Xylem and phloem are surrounded by bundle sheath cells.

epidermis

xylem phloem

Bundle sheath cells

cuticle 26
stoma guard cell epidermis
▹ Spongy mesophyll is a porous tissue that provides a site for gas
exchange.
epidermis

xylem phloem

Bundle sheath cells

cuticle 27
spongy
stoma guard cell epidermis
mesophyll
▹ Palisade mesophyll has the highest concentration of chloroplasts and
is the primary site of photosynthesis.
epidermis

chloroplasts
xylem phloem

Bundle sheath cells

cuticle 28
palisade spongy
stoma guard cell epidermis
mesophyll mesophyll
▹ Each cell of the
palisade mesophyll
contains 20-100
chloroplasts.
▹ Chloroplasts are double-membraned organelles with stacks of
flattened disks called thylakoids, surrounded by fluid called stroma.

Thylakoid

Stroma
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3. Reactions of
Photosynthesis
Light-dependent and light-independent.
▹ The light-dependent reactions take place in photosystems – protein
complexes found within the thylakoid membrane.

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▹ As a photon strikes photosystem II, the energy excites electrons in a
molecule of water, causing it to split into oxygen and H+ ions.

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▹ The electron passes through an electron transport chain while the H+
ions flow through an ATP synthase protein, generating ATP from ADP.

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▹ Photosystem I absorbs another photon of light, re-energizing the
electron, which can be used to reduce NADP+ into NADPH.

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• Chlorophyll a is found in
photosystem I and absorbs
light in the blue-violet spectrum
the best.

• Chlorophyll b is found in
photosystem II and absorbs red
and blue light.

• Plants also have smaller

amounts of carotene to
maximize their absorption
spectrum.
▹ The light-independent
reactions take place in
the stroma of
chloroplasts, and follow
a reaction pathway
called the Calvin Cycle.

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▹ During the carbon
fixation stage, carbon
dioxide is attached to a
5-carbon molecule
called RuBP.

▹ This is controlled by an
enzyme called rubisco,
nicknamed the “gateway
to life”.

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▹ During the reduction
phase, ATP is
dephosphorylated and
NADPH is oxidized to
produce G3P.
▸ Two molecules of
G3P can make one
molecule of glucose.

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▹ During the regeneration
phase, ATP is
dephosphorylated to
regenerate RuBP to
allow the cycle to
continue.

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▹ Glucose molecules can be
combined together to form
starch, which is stored in
organelles called
amyloplasts in other tissues
of the plant.

▹ The starch and glucose can

be metabolized by
mitochondria in the plants
when needed for growth.
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4. Plant Adaptations
Preventing dehydration and photorespiration.
Plants lose water
through their stomata,
a process called
transpiration.
To avoid dehydration,
plants will close their
stomata during hot,
dry days.
▹ In the absence of carbon
dioxide, the Calvin Cycle
takes in oxygen instead,
triggering photorespiration.
▹ This pathway triggers the
loss of fixed carbon as CO2 ,
wastes energy, and is
considered a harmful
process.
▹ C3 plants have no
adaptations to prevent
photorespiration. 46
▹ C4 plants limit photorespiration by
physically separating the light-
dependent reactions and Calvin
Cycle.
▸ Light-independent reactions
take place in the spongy
mesophyll.
▸ Carbon dioxide is temporarily
fixed into organic acids, which
are transported to the bundle
sheath cells for the Calvin Cycle. 47
By physically separating the Calvin cycle into bundle sheath cells, oxygen
exposure is limited during hot, dry days.
epidermis

xylem phloem

bundle sheath cells

cuticle 48
palisade spongy
stoma guard cell epidermis
mesophyll mesophyll
▹ CAM plants limit photorespiration
by temporally separating the light-
dependent reactions and Calvin
Cycle.
▸ Carbon dioxide is fixed into
organic acids at night, when
water loss is diminished.
▸ The carbon dioxide is then
released slowly during the day
into the Calvin Cycle.
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5. Endosymbiosis
Theory
Where did chloroplasts and mitochondria come from?
▹ Mitochondria and chloroplasts have unique structures not found in
any other organelles:
▸ Inner and outer membranes.
▸ DNA
▸ Ability to process energy
▸ Self-replicating

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▹ The endosymbiosis theory states that mitochondria and chloroplasts
were once independent prokaryotic organisms that were engulfed by
another cell, forming the first eukaryotic organism.

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