Photosynthesis

Chapter 8 pp160-175
Review

§ What is photosynthesis?
§ Process by which energy from sunlight is
used to convert water and carbon dioxide
into high-energy carbohydrates (sugars
and starches) and oxygen as a waste
product
§ Who uses photosynthesis?
§ Plants and other producers
Key contributors

§ Big Question:
§ When a tiny seed grows into a tall tree
with a mass of several tons, where does
the tree’s increase in mass come from?
From the soil? From the water? From
the air?
Jan van Helmont
§ 1643
§ Belgian physician
§ Do plants grow by taking material out of the
soil?
§ Mass of soil
§ Mass of seed
§ Watered regularly
§ @ end of 5 yrs, tree was 75 g, soil the same
§ Conclusion: Mass came from water
§ Accounts to the “hydrate” portion of
carbohydrate produced but what made the
“carbo-” portion
§
Joseph Priestly
§ 1771
§ English minister
§ Bell jar, candle, plant
§ Jar over candle flame
died out
§ Jar over candle with live
sprig of mint flame
didn’t die
§ Conclusion: Plant
releases oxygen
Jan Ingenhousz
§ 1779
§ Dutch scientist
§ Aquatic plants produce
bubbles only when light is
present
§ Conclusion: Plants need
sunlight to produce
oxygen
Julius Robert Mayer
§ 1845
§ German scientist
§ Proposed that plants
convert light into
energy into chemical
energy
 Melvin Calvin
§ 1948
§ American chemist
§ Traces the chemical pathway
that carbon follows to form
glucose…reactions known
as the Calvin Cycle
Rudolph Marcus
§ 1992
§ Canadian chemist
§ Won Nobel Prize for
describing process in
which electrons are
transferred from one
molecule to another in
the electron transport
chain
§ The experiments performed by van
Helmont, Priestly, and Ingenhousz led
to work by other scientists who finally
discovered that in the presence of light,
plants transform carbon dioxide and
water into carbohydrates, and they also
release oxygen
Review Sunlight
§ White light
§ ROYGBIV
§ Combo of all colors
§ Pigments
§ Chemicals that absorb electromagnetic radiation
(visible light)
§ Light absorbing molecules
§ Electromagnetic spectrum
§ Electrons=energy
Structures and
molecules
§ Chloroplast
§ Chlorophyll
§ Thylakoids
 Chloroplast (found in
cells in leaves)
§ Concentrated in the cells of the
mesophyll (inner layer of tissue)
in leaf
§ Stomata
§ Tiny pores on surface of
leaf
§ Allows carbon dioxide and
oxygen in and out of the
leaf
§ Veins
§ Carry water and nutrients
from roots to leaves
§ Deliver organic molecules
produced in leaves to
other parts of the plant
§
§
Chloroplast
§ Cellular organelle where
photosynthesis takes
place
§ Double membrane
§ Outer membrane
§ Stroma (fluid filled
space)
§ Inner membrane
§ Thylakoids
§ Granum
§ Intermembrane space
§ Contain chemical
compound called
Chlorophyll
§ This molecule gives
chloroplast its
green color
 Structure of
§ Chloroplast
Structures organize the many
reactions that take place in
photosynthesis
§ Stroma
§ Thick fluid enclosed by the
inner membrane
§ Thylakoids
§ Disc-like sacs suspended in
the stroma
§ Has membrane that surrounds
inner thylakoid space
§ Grana (sing. Granum)
§ Stacks of thylakoids
 Chlorophyll
§ Plants principle pigment
§ 2 types
§ Chlorophyll a
§ Absorbs light in the blue-violet and red regions of visible
spectrum
§ Chlorophyll b
§ Absorbs light in the blue and red regions of the visible spectrum
§ Chlorophyll does NOT absorb light well in the green portion
of the visible spectrum
§ Green light reflected by leaves
§ This is why plants look green…they reflect green light
§ Carotene
§ Secondary plant pigment
§ Red and orange pigments
§ Absorb light in other regions of the spectrum other than red and
orange
§
 2 main stages
§ Light Dependent Rxn
§ Light-Independent or Calvin Cycle
 Photosynthesis
§Overview
#1 “Light-Dependent” reactions
§ Convert the E in sunlight to chemical energy
§ Rxns depend on molecules made in membranes of
thylakoids
§ Chlorophyll in membr. captures light E
§ Chloroplast use E to remove e- from water
§ Splits water into oxygen (waste) and
hydrgen ions
§ e- taken are used to make high-E molecule NADPH
(similar to NADH)
§ Chloroplast also use captured E to make ATP
§ Overall Product: convert light E into chemical
energy stored in compounds ATP and NADPH
 Photosynthesis
Overview
# 2 “Light- Independent” Reactions
 aka
 The Calvin Cycle
§ Makes sugar from atoms of CO2 and H+ ions and
High-E e- carried by NADPH
§ Enzymes for these reactions are dissolved in the
stroma (outside thylakoid)
§ ATP made by light Rxns provides E to make sugar
(glucose)
§ Called light independent, b/c unlike unlike the light
reactions, these do NOT require light tp begin
§ However, this cycle does require two things made
by the light reactions: ATP and NADPH
§ This means that the calvin cycle cannot necessarily
continue in the dark
§