Cell Energy Vocab Flashcards
Autotroph
An organism that can produce its own food using light, water, carbon dioxide, or other chemicals.
Light reactions
The first stage of photosynthesis process in which solar energy is converted into chemical energy in the form of ATP and NADPH.
Chlorophyll
Any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants.
Photosynthesis
The process by which plants make their own food using chlorophyll, carbon dioxide, and water in the presence of sunlight
Calvin cycle
The reactions of photosynthesis that use the energy stored by the light-dependent reactions to form glucose and other carbohydrate molecules.
Electron transport chain
A series of four protein complexes that couple redox reactions, creating an electrochemical gradient that leads to the creation of ATP in a complete system named oxidative phosphorylation.
NADPH
Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate Hydrogen
Pigment
The natural coloring matter of animal or plant tissue.
Granum
A coin-shaped stack of thylakoids, which are the membrane-like structures found inside the chloroplasts of plant cells.
Stomata
An epidermal pore, present in large numbers in plant leaves, that controls the passage of gases into and out of a plant.
Carbon fixation
Process by which carbon from the atmosphere is converted into carbon compounds, such as carbohydrates, in plants and algae, usually by photosynthesis
Heterotrophs
An organism that eats other plants or animals for energy and nutrients
Thylakoids
Pouch-like sacs that are bound to a membrane in the chloroplasts of a plant cell. They contain a pigment, called chlorophyll, that absorbs light.
Carotenoids
A class of more than 750 naturally occurring pigments synthesized by plants, algae, and photosynthetic bacteria
Mitochondrial matrix
The mitochondrion internal spaces enclosed by the inner membrane.
