ENERGY TRANSFORMATION

LEARNING COMPETENCIES:
 Describe the significant events of the Calvin Cycle (STEM_BIO11/12-IIa-j-5).
 Differentiate aerobic from anaerobic respiration (STEM_BIO11/12-IIa-j-6).
 Explain the major features and sequence the chemical events of cellular respiration (STEM_BIO11/12-
IIa-j-7
ENERGY
 All living organisms require a constant supply of energy to survive (e.g. cellular processes, growth,
movement, reproduction, etc)
 Energy is the capacity to do work.
 In plants and animals glucose is the main source of chemical energy.
 Chemical energy is present in the chemical bonds (When the bonds break, energy is released)
 The sun provides this energy either directly or indirectly for nearly all life forms.
 Autotrophs- organisms that are able to make their own food (self-feeding); plants, algae, cyanobacteria
 Heterotrophs- depends on other organisms (animals)
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
Recall
1. Photosynthesis
2. ATP
3. ADP
4. Light reactions
5. Photophosphorylation
Introduction:
Autotrophic organisms use the pigment chlorophyll to harvest solar energy to produce the stored energy as
chemical bonds of ATP and carbohydrates. In eukaryotes, chlorophyll is associated with thylakoid membranes
of the chloroplast. Photosynthesis in eukaryotes involves three essential processes:
1. Energy absorption from sunlight via pigments during light-dependent reaction
2. Reactivation of reaction center
3. Carbohydrates production by carbon fixation during dark reaction.

1. Which groups participate in the reaction?

2. Which groups are released?
During PHOTOSYNTHESIS:
 Energy from sunlight is harvested and used to drive the synthesis of glucose from CO2 and H2O. By
converting the energy of sunlight to a usable form of potential chemical energy, photosynthesis is the
ultimate source of metabolic energy for all biological systems.
 Photosynthesis takes place in two distinct stages.
(A) In the light reactions, energy from sunlight drives the synthesis of ATP and NADPH, coupled to
the formation of O2 from H2O.
(B) In the dark reactions (named because they do not require sunlight), the ATP and NADPH produced
by the light reactions drive glucose synthesis.
 In eukaryotic cells, both the light and dark reactions of photosynthesis occur within chloroplasts—the
light reactions in the thylakoid membrane and the dark reactions within the stroma.

The two stages of photosynthesis:

1. Light reactions—use sunlight to initiate electron transfer, thereby reducing NADP+ to NADPH and
splitting water to give off oxygen as a by-product.
• form ATP through phosphorylation
• take place in the thylakoids of the chloroplast
2. Calvin Cycle—sometimes referred to as ‘dark reactions’ because it does not require light energy for its
processes to take place

 incorporates CO2 into organic molecules through carbon fixation

 uses NADPH and ATP to produce carbohydrate from the fixed carbon
 takes place in the stroma of chloroplast
 returns ADP, inorganic phosphate, and NADP+ to the light reactions
Light Reactions Events
1. Light energy or photon is absorbed by a pigment molecule of the light-harvesting complex of Photosystem II
and is passed on to other pigment molecules nearby until the energy makes it to the reaction center. In the
reaction center, it is absorbed by the P680 pair of chlorophyll a.
2. The electron in this pair of chlorophyll a is raised to an excited state and is transferred to the primary electron
acceptor. P680 loses its electron and becomes positively charged (P680+).
3. The positively charged molecule attracts electrons from a water molecule, resulting to the splitting up of H20
into two electrons, two hydrogen ions (H+), and an oxygen atom with the provision of light energy. The oxygen
atom immediately combines with another oxygen atom to form an oxygen molecule (O2) which is then released
outside the leaf through the stomata.
4. The excited electrons are then passed on from the primary electron acceptor to the electron carrier molecules
through the electron transport chain until they reach Photosystem I. The electron carrier molecules involved
here are plastoquinone (Pq), a cytochrome complex, and plastocyanin (Pc).
5. At each transfer, the electrons release small amounts of energy. This energy is used to pump hydrogen ions
across the membrane. The splitting up of water molecules results to an uneven distribution of hydrogen ions in
the stroma and the lumen. The H+ ions tries to equalize their distribution by moving from the lumen to the
stroma through the aid of a membrane protein called ATP synthase. This is referred to as chemiosmosis. The
movement of hydrogen ions through the ATP synthase channel triggers the synthesis of ATP from ADP. The
ATP contains high-energy phosphate bonds.
6. Meanwhile, photon is also absorbed, and energy is passed on from one pigment molecule to another until the
energy reaches the reaction center complex of Photosystem I. The energy excites the electron present in the pair
of P700 chlorophyll a located here. The excited electron is then transferred to a primary electron acceptor,
making the P700 positively charged and now seeking electrons to fill up the missing ones. This is filled up by
the electrons from Photosystem II that are passed on through the electron transport chain.
7. The photo-excited electron from the primary electron acceptor of Photosystem I enters another electron
transfer chain, passing the electron to an iron-containing protein called ferredoxin (Fd).
8. An enzyme, the NADP+ reductase, then transfers the electron to NADP+ and stabilizes it by adding a proton
(H+) to form NADPH. NADPH is then released to the stroma and becomes part of the Calvin Cycle.
The Calvin Cycle
Important points to know:
• The sugar that is produced in the Calvin Cycle is not the six-carbon glucose that we are familiar with. This is
formed later on. What is produced in the Calvin Cycle is a three-carbon sugar known as G3P or glyceraldehyde-
3-phosphate.
• The Calvin Cycle needs to ‘spin’ three times to make one molecule of G3P from three molecules of CO2.

Three Phases of Calvin Cycle:

Carbon Fixation
 Carbon fixation is a process of incorporating an inorganic carbon molecule, CO2, into an organic
material.
 In this phase, the CO2 molecule is attached to a five-carbon sugar molecule named ribulose biphosphate
(RuBP) aided by an enzyme named rubisco or RuBP carboxylase. Rubisco is believed to be the most
abundant protein in the chloroplast and maybe on Earth.
 The resulting product, a six-carbon sugar, is extremely unstable and immediately splits in half. The split
forms two molecules of a 3-phosphoglycerate (3-carbon).
Reduction
 A phosphate group (from ATP) is then attached to each 3-phosphoglycerate by an enzyme, forming 1, 3-
phosphoglycerate.
 NADPH swoops in and reduces 1,3-biphosphogycerate to G3P.
 For every six G3Ps produced by the Calvin Cycle, five are recycled to regenerate three molecules of
RuBP. Only one G3P leaves the cycle to be packaged for use by the cell.
 It will take two molecules of G3P to make one molecule of glucose.
 The ADP and NADP+ that is formed during the Calvin Cycle will be transported back to the thylakoid
membrane and will enter the light reactions. Here, they will be ‘recharged’ with energy and become
ATP and NADPH
Regeneration of RuBP
 Five molecules of G3P undergo a series of complex enzymatic reactions to form three molecules of
RuBP. This costs the cell another three molecules of ATP, but also provides another set of RuBP to
continue the cycle.
What happens to G3P after its release from the cycle?
 Two G3Ps can combine together to form either glucose or fructose which are both are six-carbon sugar.
 Glucose and fructose can be combined to form sucrose.
 Glucose can be connected in chains to form starch.
 G3Ps can also be used in lipid and protein synthesis.

The cost of making carbohydrate:

To make one molecule of G3P, the chloroplast needs:
 3 molecules of CO2
 9 molecules of ATP
 6 molecules of NADPH

Q & A Activity:
1. What are the two kinds of reactions in photosynthesis?
2. What are the basic stages of the Calvin cycle?
3. What are the reactants and products of photosynthesis?