Unit 3 - Photosynthesis Flashcards
Photosynthesis
a biochemical process for building carbohydrates from sunlight and carbon dioxide taken from the air
Thylakoid Membranes
highly folded membrane within chloroplasts, location of photosynthetic electron transport chain
Stroma
area between thylakoid membrane and inner membrane is called stroma (cytosol of chloroplast)
Photosystems
protein pigment complexes that absorb light and initiate photosynthesis
Types of energy that photosynthesis synthesizes?
ATP and NADPH - synthesize carbs from CO2 in Calvin cycle
Photosynthesis is a series of REDOX reactions that reduce __ and oxidize __ to produce carbs
Carbon, Oxygen
Electromagnetic Spectrum
the shorter the wavelength of a photon, the more energy it has. (Purple=high energy, red=low energy)
A Pigment
Used by chloroplasts, absorbs light at some wavelengths, and transmits (or reflects) wavelengths that it doesn’t absorb
Resonance
process that passes excited state of electron to neighboring chlorophylls (during light absorption by chlorophylls)
Antenna Complex
funnels energy of excited electron by resonance to reaction center, where electron transferred to electron acceptor in redox reaction, begins photosynthetic electron transport chain
2 Photosystems
Photosystem 1 provides energy needed for NADP+ reduction to NADPH by exciting an e- that was already excited by photosystem II
Z Scheme
energy changes in electrons flowing through photosynthetic electron transport chain
Photosynthetic electron transport chain
PSII creates proton gradient for ATP synthesis and PSI creates NADPH
Calvin Cycle
consists of 15 chemical rxns, grouped into carboxylation, reduction, and regeneration, that synthesize carbohydrates from CO2
Rubisco (most abundant protein in world)
1.Catalyzes CO2 incorporation into RuBP
2.Highly abundant in chloroplasts, notoriously slow rxn rate
3.Can accidentally add O2 to RuBP instead of CO2
