Plants Flashcards
About how many plant species have been described?
300,000.
What are the ways in which plants enable life on land?
- Supply oxygen
- Supply food and materials for household items
- Stabilize the soil
- Provide shelter, and more
What are secondary metabolites?
Secondary metabolites are plant chemicals that are not used for cellular metabolism. Instead, they are involved in long-term survival. They might attract pollinators or repel predators, for example.
Where are secondary metabolites stored?
The central vacuole.
How do humans use secondary metabolites?
Humans use them as fungicides, insecticides, rodenticides, pharmaceuticals, and recreational chemicals.
What are the four main structures that plant cells have that animal cells do not?
- Cell wall
- Central vacuole
- Chloroplast
- Plasmodesmata
What is the cell wall?
The rigid outer layer made of cellulose that maintains the cell’s shape and protects it from damage.
What is the function of the central vacuole?
- Storage
- Breakdown of wastes and macromolecules.
- Enlargement is involved in plant growth.
What are plasmodesmata?
Cytoplasmic channels that connect cells and allow for cytoplasmic streaming. (the gap junctions of plants)
What is cytoplasmic streaming?
In cytoplasmic streaming, plant cells keep the cytoplasm of the cell moving through multiple cells so that materials can be shared.
What is the general purpose of photosynthesis?
Photosynthesis converts light energy to the chemical energy of food.
Where are the chloroplasts?
They are found in the mesophyll cells.
Where does photosynthesis occur?
The chloroplast.
Where do the light reactions occur?
The thylakoid membrane in the chloroplast.
Where does the Calvin cycle occur?
The stroma in the chloroplast.
What is the role of the stomata?
The stomata lie on the underside of a leaf and allow for the exchange of gases so that CO2 can enter the leaf and oxygen can leave.
What are the inputs of the light reactions?
Light, water, NADP+, ADO, and P.
What are the outputs of the light reactions?
ATP, NADPH, and O2.
What is the overall goal of the Calvin cycle?
The Calvin cycle uses the chemical energy of ATP and NADPH to reduce CO2 into G3P (sugar).
What is carbon fixation?
The conversion of CO2 into organic compounds.
What fixes carbon?
Rubisco–the most abundant protein on earth.
What are the inputs for the Calvin cycle?
ATP, NADPH, and CO2,
What are the outputs for the Calvin cycle?
Sugars.
How many carbon dioxide molecules does the Calvin cycle start with?
3 CO2 molecules.
In the Calvin cycle, what happens after the input of three CO2 molecules?
There is an input of 6 ATP and 6 NADPH, taking the reaction from carbon fixation to reduction, finalizing in the production of G3P–the output.
What does the addition of two G3P molecules yield?
Glucose.
To regenerate the Calvin cycle, what must happen?
There must be an additional ATP to regenerate the Rubisco protein, and then the cycle can begin again.
What is the function of xylem?
Xylem brings water and minerals upward from the roots.
What is the function of phloem?
Phloem transports sugars and other organic nutrients throughout the plant, in any direction.
How is teosinte an example of selective breeding of crops?
Teosinte was selected for larger kernels that were better attached to the cob, and from that breeding came maize (also known as corn).
If you select a wild mustard plant for leaves, what do you get?
Kale
If you select a wild mustard plant for axillary (side) buds, what do you get?
Brussels sprouts
If you select a wild mustard plant for apical (tip) bud, what do you get?
Cabbage
If you select a wild mustard plant for flowers and stems, what do you get?
Broccoli
If you select a wild mustard plant for stems, what do you get?
Kohlrabi
What is transgenic modification?
The genetic modification of an organism to yield better genetics according to the situation (such as making insect-resistant plants)
How is insect-resistant maize made?
The production of Bt protoxin.
How do transgenic cassava plants reduce world hunger?
Cassava is a primary food for 800 million of the world’s poor. Transgenic cassava plants are bigger, are enriched in protein, iron, and beta-carotene (vitamin A precursor), and have less cyanide.
How many people die each year from malnutrition?
30 million people.
How many children go blind each year because of vitamin A deficiency?
More than 250,000.