Chapter 10 Flashcards
The conversion of light energy to chemical energy that is stored in sugars or other organic compounds; occurs in plants, algae, and certain prokaryotes.
Photosynthesis
A plant that uses crassulacean acid metabolism, an adaptation for photosynthesis in arid conditions.
CAM Pathway
An organism that obtains organic food molecules without eating other organisms.
Autotrophs
In C4 plants, a type of loosely arranged photosynthetic cell located between the bundle sheath and the leaf surface.
Mesophyll Cells
An organism that obtains organic food molecules by eating other organisms or substances derived from them.
Heterotrophs
In C4 plants, a type of photosynthetic cell arranged into tightly packed sheaths around the veins of a leaf.
Bundle-Sheath Cells
A green pigment located within the chloroplasts of plants and algae and in the membranes of certain prokaryotes.
Chlorophyll
The ground tissue of a leaf, sandwiched between the upper and lower epidermis and specialized for photosynthesis.
Mesophyll
A plant in which the Calvin cycle is preceded by reactions that incorporate CO2 into a four-carbon compound, the end product of which supplies CO2 for the Calvin Cycle.
C4 Plants
A microscopic pore surrounded by guard cells in the epidermis of leaves and stems that allows gas exchange between the environment and the interior of the plant.
Stomata
A metabolic pathway that consumes oxygen and ATP, releases carbon dioxide, and decreases photosynthetic output.
Photorespiration
A plant that uses the Calvin cycle for the initial steps that incorporate CO2 into organic material, forming a three-carbon compound as the first stable intermediate.
C3 Plants
Within the chloroplast, the dense fluid of the chloroplast surrounding the thylakoid membrane; involved in the synthesis of organic molecules from carbon dioxide and water.
Stroma
A route of electron flow during the light reactions of photosynthesis that involves only photosystem I and that produces ATP but not NADPH or O2.
Cyclic Electron Flow
A flattened membranous sac inside a chloroplast.
Thylakoids
A route of electron flow during the light reactions of photosynthesis that involves both photosystems (I and II) and produces ATP, NADPH, and O2.
Linear Electron Flow
A stack of membrane-bounded thylakoids in the chloroplast.
Grana
One of two light-capturing units in a chloroplast’s thylakoid membrane or in the membrane of some prokaryotes; it has two molecules of P680 chlorophyll a at its reaction center.
Photosystem II
The first of two major stages in photosynthesis (preceding the Calvin cycle).
Light Reactions
One of two light-capturing units in a chloroplast’s thylakoid membrane or in the membrane of some prokaryotes; it has two molecules of P700 chlorophyll a at its reaction center.
Photosystem I
The second of two major stages in photosynthesis (following the light reactions), involving fixation of atmospheric Co2 and reduction of the fixed carbon into carbohydrate.
Calvin Cycle
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, an electron acceptor that, as NADPH, temporarily stores energized electrons produced during the light reactions.
NADP+
A light-capturing unit located in the thylakoid membrane of the chloroplast or in the membrane of some prokaryotes, consisting of a reaction-center complex surrounded by numbers light-harvesting complexes.
Photosystem
The process of generating ATP from ADP and phosphate by means of a proton-motive force generated across the thylakoid membrane of the chloroplast or the membrane of certain prokaryotes during the light reactions of photosynthesis.
Photophosphorylation
An accessory pigment, either yellow or orange, in the chloroplasts of plants and in some prokaryotes.
Carotenoids
The initial incorporation of carbon from CO2 into an organic compound by an autotrophic organism (a plant, another photosynthetic organism, or a chemoautotrophic prokaryote).
Carbon Fixation
An accessory photosynthetic pigment that transfers energy to chlorophyll a.
Chlorophyll B
The distance between crests of waves, such as those of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Wavelength
The entire spectrum of electromagnetic radiation ranging in wavelength from less than a nanometer to more than a kilometer.
Electromagnetic Spectrum
A photosynthetic pigment that participates directly in the light reactions, which convert solar energy to chemical energy.
Chlorophyll A
That portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be detected as various colors by the human eye, ranging in wavelength from about 380 nm to about 750 nm.
Visible Light
A graph that profiles the relative effectiveness of different wavelengths of radiation in driving a particular process.
Action Spectrum
A quantum, or discrete quantity, of light energy that behaves as if it were a particle.
Photons
The range of a pigment’s ability to absorb various wavelengths of light; also a graph of such a range.
Absorption Spectrum
An instrument that measures the proportions of light of different wavelengths absorbed and transmitted by a pigment solution.
Spectrophotometer
