Photosynthesis

Plant cell
Photosynthesis
• is the process by which light energy is used to make glucose.
• Another way to describe it is to say that solar energy is converted into
chemical energy because energy is stored in chemical bonds.

Photosynthesis is carried out by all organisms in the Plant kingdom as

well as by algae in the Protista kingdom.
 The general formula for photosynthesis is:

This process is a reduction reaction because the carbon in carbon dioxide is gaining electrons from the hydrogen
in water.
STRUCTURE OF THE CHLOROPLAST
• The chloroplast is an organelle enclosed by a double membrane. It
contains grana (consisting of layers of membranes called thylakoids)
—where the light dependent reactions occur, and stroma—where
the Calvin cycle (light-independent reactions) occurs.
 Photosynthetic Pigments
• Photosynthetic pigments absorb light energy and use it to carry out
• photosynthesis.
• Substances that absorb light in the visible spectrum are called pigments.
Different pigments absorb light of different wavelengths.
• Only the green photosynthetic pigment, chlorophyll a, can participate
directly in the light reactions. Other pigments, called antennae or accessory
pigments, assist in photosynthesis by capturing and passing on photons of
light to chlorophyll a and thus expand the range of light that can be used to
produce sugar.
• These accessory pigments include chlorophyll b (green), carotenoids (yellow,
orange, and red), and phycobilins (red and are found in red algae)
chlorophyll a and b
Carotinoids
 Light-Dependent and Light-Independent Reactions

• the light-independent reactions are called the dark reactions.

• That name, however, is misleading because both reactions occur only
when there is light.
• In simplest terms, the function of the light-dependent reactions is to
produce energy (ATP) and protons for the light-independent reactions.
• The function of the light-independent reactions is to make sugar (PGAL).
LIGHT-DEPENDENT REACTIONS
• The light-dependent reactions occur in the grana of chloroplasts
within specialized membranes called thylakoids.
• Within these thylakoid membranes are hundreds of light-absorbing
complexes called photosystems.
• Each photosystem consists of chlorophyll a and the accessory
pigments, chlorophyll b and carotenoids.
• One of the main results of the light-dependent reactions is that large
amounts of ATP are produced.
ATP is produced in chloroplasts the same way it is produced during cellular
respiration in mitochondria—by electron transport chains and chemiosmosis

• As the chlorophyll in the grana absorb light, electrons become

energized and escape from chlorophyll molecules into electron
transport chains (ETC).
• The energy from these energized electrons pumps protons across the
thylakoid membrane and creates a proton gradient.
• The potential energy stored in this proton gradient is converted into
ATP as protons flow through an ATP synthase channel.
 The following equation shows the flow of energy through the light-
dependent reactions:

• light → chlorophyll → energized electrons → ETC → proton gradient

→ ATP synthase → ATP
 • Water breaks down, by a process called photolysis, into its components:
electrons, protons, and oxygen atoms.
1. Electrons replace those lost by chlorophyll in the light-dependent reactions.
2. Protons pass through the ATP synthase channels and get carried by NADP to the stroma for light-independent
reactions
3. Oxygen is released into the atmosphere as a waste product. This is the source of all our oxygen in the atmosphere.
LIGHT-INDEPENDENT REACTIONS
• CO2, which the plant takes in through its leaves, combines with protons
and electrons carried from the light reactions by NADP to produce sugar.
• The incorporation of carbon dioxide into a sugar molecule is called
carbon fixation.
• It occurs in the cyclical process known as the Calvin cycle.
• Large amounts of ATP are required to keep the Calvin cycle running. All
of the necessary ATP is produced during the light-dependent reactions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeD9idmcX0w
take place in the stroma of chloroplasts
CHEMIOSMOSIS
Chemiosmosis uses the stored energy in the proton gradient to convert ADP
into ATP.
Chemiosmosis or oxidative phosphorylation is the actual mechanism by
which ATP is produced.
It uses the energy stored in the proton gradient to power the synthesis of ATP.
Chemiosmosis depends on a very special molecule located within the cristae
membrane called ATP synthase .
This molecule is actually a proton channel structure that can spin like a
turbine.
As protons pour through the ATP synthase channel, part of the molecule turns
and attaches phosphates to ADP molecules, forming molecules of ATP
Overview of light-dependent and light-independent
reactions
 Green Algae: Precursors of Land Plants

Green algae exhibit a variety of body types - from single cells to colonial forms,
to coenocytic algae (multinucleate), to multicellular filaments and sheets

Spirogyra is a long filament of

colonial cells. Most members of
this genus live in fresh water,
brackish water, seawater, or even
in snow patches.
Charophytes
• Large cells form the thallus: the main stem of
the alga.
• Branches arising from the nodes are made of
smaller cells.
• Male and female reproductive structures are
found on the nodes, and the sperm have flagella.
• Although Chara looks superficially like some land
plants, a major difference is that the stem has no
supportive tissue.
• However, the Charales exhibit a number of traits
that are significant for adaptation to land life.
Green algae share many similarities with land plants

• Green algae have pigments, energy reserve products, and cell

walls that are chemically identical to those of land plants.
Green algae are photosynthetic, with chloroplasts of a wide variety of
• shapes.
• Most green algae have cell walls with cellulose, although some lack
walls.
• Because of these and other similarities, biologists generally accept
that land plants arose from ancestral green algae
The life cycle of Chlamydomonas
Chlamydomonas is a unicellular, haploid green alga with two
mating types, (+) and (−).
Many green algae produce spores asexually by mitosis; if these
spores have flagella and are motile, they are called zoospores

Sexual reproduction in the green algae involves gamete

formation in unicellular gametangia (sing., gametangium),
reproductive structures in which gametes are produced.
A plant
is a complex multicellular eukaryote that has cellulose cell walls,
chlorophylls a and b in plastids, starch as a storage product, and may
have cells with two anterior flagella.
In addition, all plants develop from multicellular embryos that are
enclosed in maternal tissues; this last character is one that
distinguishes plants from green algae.
Many botanists refer to land plants as embryophytes because of this
character.
Important difference between plants and algae:
• a waxy cuticle covers the aerial portion of a plant - plants may have a
very thin layer of wax, whereas those adapted to drier environments
often have a thick, crusty cuticle.
• The sex organs, or gametangia (sing., gametangium), of most plants
are multicellular, whereas the gametangia of algae are unicellular
• In plants, the fertilized egg develops into a multicellular embryo
(young plant) within the female gametangium.
(a,b)In algae, gametangia are generally unicellular. When the
gametes are released, only the wall of the original cell remains.
(c, d) only the inner cells become gametes in plants
The gametes are surrounded by a protective layer of sterile
(nonreproductive) cells.
 • Plants have a clearly defined alternation of generations in which they
spend part of their lives in a multicellular haploid stage and part in a
multicellular diploid stage.

The haploid portion of the life cycle is called

the gametophyte generation because it gives
rise to haploid gametes by mitosis.
When two gametes fuse, the diploid portion
of the life cycle, called the sporophyte
generation, begins.
The sporophyte generation produces haploid
spores by the process of meiosis; these
spores represent the first stage in the
gametophyte generation.

The basic plant life cycle

• The haploid gametophytes produce male gametangia, known as
antheridia (sing., antheridium), in which sperm cells form,
• female gametangia, known as archegonia (sing., archegonium), each
bearing a single egg.
• Sperm cells reach the female gametangium in a variety of ways, and
one sperm cell fertilizes the egg to form a zygote, or fertilized egg.
Plant evolution

Plants consist of four major groups:

bryophytes,
seedless vascular plants,
two groups of seeded vascular plants:
gymnosperms and angiosperms (flowering plants)
Seedless Plants
The bryophytes (from the Greek words meaning “moss plant”)

• the only living nonvascular plants

• they have no means for extensive internal transport of water, sugar,
and essential minerals, bryophytes are typically small
• three distinct phyla:
-mosses (phylum Bryophyta),
-liverworts (phylum Hepatophyta),
-hornworts (phylum Anthocerophyta)
Mosses (phylum Bryophyta)
Each individual plant has tiny, hairlike absorptive structures called rhizoids and an
upright, stemlike structure that bears leaflike blades, each normally consisting of a
single layer of undifferentiated cells except at the midrib.
Because mosses lack vascular tissues, they do not have true roots, stems, or
leaves; the moss structures are not homologous to roots, stems, or leaves in
vascular plants.
 The life cycle of mosses
The gametophyte generation is dominant in the moss life cycle.
After sexual reproduction, the sporophyte grows out of the gametophyte.

If a moss spore lands in a suitable spot, it

germinates and grows into a filament of
cells called a protonema.

Haploid gametophyte generation is the

dominant generation in mosses
Moss sporophytes.

Sporophyte grows out of the top of the female gametophyte

and remains attached and nutritionally dependent on the
gametophyte throughout its existence
Sporophyte (green and photosynthetic) becomes golden brown at maturity.
It consists of three main parts:
a foot, which anchors the sporophyte to the gametophyte and absorbs minerals
and nutrients from it;
a seta, or stalk;
and a capsule, which contains sporogenous cells (spore mother cells).
The capsule of some species is covered by a caplike structure, the calyptra,
which is derived from the archegonium
Liverwort
• nonvascular plants with a dominant gametophyte generation
• body form is oft en a flattened, lobed structure called a thallus (pl.,
thalli) that is not diff erentiated into leaves, stems, or roots.
• The common liverwort, Marchantia polymorpha, is thalloid
• small, generally inconspicuous plants that are largely restricted to
damp environments
• Liverworts reproduce both sexually and asexually
• Their life cycle is basically the same as that of mosses
Liverwort
Some liverworts reproduce asexually by
forming tiny balls of tissue called gemmae
(sing., gemma), which are borne in a
saucershaped structure, the gemmae cup,
directly on the liverwort thallus

When a gemma lands in a suitable place, it

grows into a new liverwort thallus.
Liverworts may also reproduce asexually by
thallus branching and growth.
Liverwort life cycle
Hornwort gametophytes are inconspicuous thalloid plants

• a small group (about 100 species of bryophytes) whose

gametophytes superficially resemble those of the thalloid liverworts.
Hornworts live in disturbed habitats such as fallow fields and
roadsides
• archegonia and antheridia are embedded in the gametophyte thallus
rather than on archegoniophores and antheridiophores.
• After fertilization and development, the needlelike sporophyte
projects out of the gametophyte thallus, forming a spike or “horn”—
hence the name hornwort
Bryophytes: hornworts
Hornworts live in disturbed habitats such as fallow fields and roadsides.

A single gametophyte often produces multiple sporophytes.

Meiosis occurs, forming spores within each sporangium (pl., sporangia), or
spore case.
The sporangium splits open from the top to release the spores; each spore can
give rise to a new gametophyte thallus.
Bryophytes are used for experimental studies
• Botanists use certain bryophytes as experimental models to study
many fundamental aspects of plant biology:
- genetics,
- growth and development,
- plant ecology,
- plant hormones,
- photoperiodism, which is plant responses to varying periods of night
and day length.