Photosynthesis Flashcards
Photosynthesis
Is the process that converts solar energy into chemical energy
• Directly or indirectly, photosynthesis nourishes
almost the entire living world
Autotrophs
Sustain themselves without eating anything derived from other organisms
• Autotrophs are the producers of the biosphere,
producing organic molecules from CO2 and other
inorganic molecules
• Almost all plants are photoautotrophs, using the
energy of sunlight to make organic molecules.
Chloroplasts are structurally similar to and likely
evolved from photosynthetic bacteria
The structural organization of these cells allows for
the chemical reactions of photosynthesis
The green color of plants is from chlorophyll, the green pigment within chloroplasts
Chloroplasts are found mainly in cells of the
mesophyll, the interior tissue of the leaf
Each mesophyll cell contains 30–40 chloroplasts
The chlorophyll is in the membranes of
thylakoids (connected sacs in the chloroplast);
thylakoids may be stacked in columns called
grana
Chloroplasts also contain stroma, a dense
interior fluid
The Two Stages of Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis consists of the light reactions (the
photo part) and Calvin cycle (the synthesis part)
The light reactions (in the thylakoids)
– Split H2O
– Release O2
– Reduce NADP+ to NADPH
– Generate ATP from ADP by photophosphorylation
Calvin cycle
(in the stroma) forms sugar from CO2, using ATP and NADPH
The Calvin cycle begins with carbon fixation,
incorporating CO2 into organic molecules
The Nature of Sunlight
- Light is a form of electromagnetic energy, also called electromagnetic radiation
- Like other electromagnetic energy, light travels in rhythmic waves
- Wavelength is the distance between crests of waves
- Wavelength determines the type of electromagnetic energy
- The electromagnetic spectrum is the entire range of electromagnetic energy, or radiation
- Visible light consists of wavelengths (including those that drive photosynthesis) that produce colors we can see
- Light also behaves as though it consists of discrete particles, called photons
Mesophyll tissue:
in plant anatomy, photosynthetic parenchyma cells that lie between the upper and lower epidermis layers of a leaf
An action spectrum depicts the magnitude of a response of a biological system to light, as a function of wavelength.
For example, an action spectrum for photosynthesis can be constructedfrom measurements of oxygen evolution at different wavelengths
Photosystem I preferentially absorbs far-red light of
wavelengths greater than 680 nm;
Photosystem I produces a strong reductant, capable of reducing NADP+, and a weak oxidant.
Photosystem I preferentially absorbs far-red light of
wavelengths greater than 680 nm
photosystem II preferentially absorbs red light of 680 nm and is driven very poorly by far-red light.
Photosystem II produces a very strong oxidant, capable of oxidizing water, and a weaker reductant than the one produced by photosystem I.
photosystem II preferentially absorbs red light of 680 nm and is driven very poorly by far-red light.
The carbon reduction reactions, which are catalyzed by water-soluble enzymes, take place in the stroma….
…the region of the chloroplast outside the thylakoids.
Stroma lamellae
(site of PSI)
Grana lamellae
stack of thylakoids and site of PSII
Chlorophyll “a” is the main photosynthetic pigment
Accessory pigments, such as chlorophyll b, broaden the spectrum used for photosynthesis
Accessory pigments called carotenoids absorb excessive light that would damage chlorophyll
In PSII, the oxidation of two water molecules produces four electrons, four protons, and a single O2
2H2O —oxidization—> 4H + O2
Photosystem II oxidizes water to O2 in the thylakoid
lumen and in the process releases protons into the
lumen
Cytochrome b6 f receives electrons from PSII and
delivers them to PSI. It also transports additional
protons into the lumen from the stroma
pheophytin transfers electrons to the
acceptors QA and QB, which are plastoquinones. (4) The cytochrome b6 f complex transfers electrons to plastocyanin (PC),
The acceptor of electrons from P700* (A0) is
thought to be a chlorophyll, and the next acceptor (A1) is a quinone
Photosystem I reduces NADP+ to NADPH in the
stroma by the action of ferredoxin (Fd) and the flavoprotein ferredoxin–NADP reductase (FNR).
ATP synthase produces ATP as protons diffuse back through it from the lumen into the stroma.
Energy Is Captured When an Excited Chlorophyll
Reduces an Electron Acceptor Molecule
the function of light is to excite a specialized
chlorophyll in the reaction center, either by direct
absorption or, more frequently, via energy transfer from an antenna pigment.
This excitation process can be envisioned as the promotion of an electron from the highest-energy filled orbital of the chlorophyll to the lowest-energy unfilled orbital. The electron in the upper orbital is only loosely bound to the chlorophyll and is easily lost if a molecule that can accept the electron is nearby
The first reaction that converts electron energy into
chemical energy—that is, the primary photochemical event—is the transfer of an electron from the excited state of a chlorophyll in the reaction center to an acceptor molecule.
Immediately after the photochemical event, the reaction center chlorophyll is in an oxidized state (electron deficient, or positively charged) and the nearby electron acceptor molcule is reduced. The
system is now at a critical juncture
If the acceptor molecule donates its electron back
to the reaction center chlorophyll, the system will be returned to the state that existed before the light excitation, and all the absorbed energy will be converted into heat.
An absorption spectrum
is a graph plotting a pigment’s light absorption versus wavelength
The absorption spectrum of chlorophyll a suggests that violet blue and red light work best for photosynthesis
An action spectrum profiles the relative effectiveness of different wavelengths of radiation in driving a process
The action spectrum of photosynthesis was
first demonstrated in 1883 by Theodor W.
Engelmann
In his experiment, he exposed different
segments of a filamentous alga to different
wavelengths
Areas receiving wavelengths favorable to
photosynthesis produced excess O2
He used the growth of aerobic bacteria
clustered along the alga as a measure of
O2 production
The essence of photosynthetic energy storage is thus the initial transfer of an electron from an excited chlorophyll to an acceptor molecule, followed by a very rapid series of secondary chemical reactions that separate the positive and
negative charges.
These secondary reactions separate the charges to opposite sides of the thylakoid membrane in approximately 200 picoseconds
Water is oxidized according to the following chemical reaction
2 H2O → O2 + 4 H+ + 4 e–
This equation indicates that four electrons are removed from two water molecules, generating an oxygen molecule and four hydrogen ions
The quantum yield of photosynthesis (Ø) is defined as follows:
Ø = (Number of photochemical products) / (Total number of quanta absorbed)
The value of Φ for a particular process can range from 0
(if that process is never involved in the decay of the excited state) to 1.0 (if that process always deactivates the excited state). The sum of the quantum yields of all possible processes is 1.0.
A photosystem consists of a reaction-center
complex (a type of protein complex) surrounded by
light-harvesting complexes
The light-harvesting complexes (pigment
molecules bound to proteins) transfer the energy of
photons to the reaction center
A primary electron acceptor in the reaction center
accepts excited electrons and is reduced as a result
Solar-powered transfer of an electron from a
chlorophyll a molecule to the primary electron
acceptor is the first step of the light reactions
During the light reactions, there are two possible
routes for electron flow: cyclic and linear
Linear electron flow, the primary pathway, involves
both photosystems and produces ATP and NADPH
using light energy
A photon hits a pigment and its energy is passed
among pigment molecules until it excites P680
An excited electron from P680 is transferred to the
primary electron acceptor (we now call it P680+)
P680+ is a very strong oxidizing agent
H2O is split by enzymes, and the electrons are
transferred from the hydrogen atoms to P680+, thus
reducing it to P680
O2 is released as a by-product of this reaction
Each electron “falls” down an electron transport
chain from the primary electron acceptor of PS II to
PS I
How is ATP made in the light reactions?
In the light reaction, when electrons are transferred from Photosystem 2 to Photosystem 1, it goes through an Electron Transport Chain (ETC). This ETC pumps protons into the thykaloid. Those protons diffuse out of the thykaloid through ATP synthase which energizes a phosphate group to bond to ADP. This creates ATP.
In all eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms that contain both chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b, the most abundant antenna proteins are members of a large family of structurally related proteins
Antenna systems function to deliver energy efficiently to the reaction centers with which they are associated
Some of these proteins are associated primarily
with photosystem II and are called light-harvesting
complex II (LHCII) proteins; others are associated with photosystem I and are called LHCI proteins.
These antenna complexes are also known as chlorophyll a/b antenna proteins
Funneling of excitation from the antenna system
toward the reaction center. (A) The excited-state energy of pigments increases with distance from the reaction center; that is, pigments closer to the reaction center are lower in energy than those farther from the reaction center.
This energy gradient ensures that excitation transfer toward the reaction center is energetically favorable and that excitation transfer back out to the peripheral portions of the antenna is energetically unfavorable