1. Explain the importance of photosynthesis to living organisms.

2. Describe the main structures involved in photosynthesis.

3. List the substrates and products of photosynthesis.

 Organisms that utilize substrates in their surroundings to build complex organic compounds
 Primary producer
 Typically utilizes energy from:
 light
 Inorganic chemical reactions from its surroundings.

 2 types
 Photoautotrophs
 Use sunlight to make food (Photosynthesis)
 Includes:
 Plants
 Algae
 Cyanobacteria… (and more…)

 Chemoautotrophs
 Capture energy from inorganic compounds to make food (Chemosynthesis)
 Includes:
 Bacteria and archaea that live in extreme environments
 Deep sea thermal vents
 Organism that cannot produce its own food
 Relies on the intake of food in the form of organic carbon substances
 Require intake of the sugars produced by autotrophs
 Usually plant or animal matter
 Primary, secondary, or tertiary consumers (think food chain)

 Includes:
 Animals
 Fungi
 Most bacteria
 Essential to ALL life on earth (plants & animals)
 Primary means by which chemical energy is added to the biosphere.
 Uses solar energy, carbon dioxide, and H2O to produce sugar.
 Oxygen is a waste product → some is used in aerobic respiration.
 Solar energy to chemical energy
 Basis for our food webs!

 Occurs in:
 Plants
 Algae
 Certain other Protists
 Some prokaryotes
 Chloroplast Structure
• Double Membrane – Inner and Outer
• Stroma – inner space of the chloroplast (contains the thylakoids/Grana)
• Thylakoid – disk shaped structure containing chlorophyll
• Grana – stacks of thylakoids
• Lumen – inner space of the thylakoid

 Chloroplasts – the site of photosynthesis

 In the leaves of plants is the major location.
 Organelle
 Highest density of chloroplasts in the mesophyll cells.
 Just like Cellular Respiration:
(What goes in) (What comes out)
 Involves complex metabolic
pathways
Carbon
Dioxide
+ water → Sugar + Oxygen

6 CO2 + 12 H2O + Light Energy → C6H12O6 + 6 O2 + 6 H2O

 2 Metabolic Pathways

 The Light Reaction

 The Calvin Cycle

 Light-Dependent Reactions
 Converts light energy to
chemical energy
 Makes ATP and reduces NADP+
to NADPH (e- transporter)
 Occurs in the thylakoid
membranes of the chloroplast

 The Calvin cycle

 Uses ATP and NADPH to make
sugar (food)
 Occurs in the stroma of
chloroplasts
 Before exploring the overall process of photosynthesis, let’s determine the
source of its components:
1. H2O – absorbed by the roots located in the soil.
2. CO2 – acquired from the air as a result of gas exchange through the stomata.
3. Sunlight – is absorbed in the chlorophyll molecules.

Stoma (singular)

Guard cells

O2
O2
O2
 Chloroplasts split H2O into Hydrogen ions, Oxygen, and electrons.
 Incorporates the e- of hydrogen into sugar molecules
 This requires lots of energy and release the Oxygen (in the form of O2) as a byproduct.
 Redox reaction - H2O is oxidized and CO2 is reduced
1. Explain how plants absorb energy from sunlight.

2. Describe short and long wavelengths of light.

3. Describe how and where photosynthesis takes place within a plant.

4. Draw a diagram of a chloroplast and label its parts

5. Explain how the flow of e- through PSII, the ETC in the chloroplast, and PSI is
used to generate ATP and NADPH.
 Form of electromagnetic energy (radiation) Radiation - composed of photons (packets of energy)
 Composed of photon particles that travel as waves Photons have particle-like and wave-like properties
They vary in their wavelengths and energy
 We can only see a fraction of this energy
 Visible range of light energy (same range plants use)

 Represented on the Electromagnetic Spectrum.

 The entire range of electromagnetic energy

Lower energy Higher energy

 Wavelengths are typically measured in nm.
 Longer wavelengths
 Crest farther apart
 Carry less energy than short wavelengths

 The visible range (400-700nm)

 The violets have the shortest wavelengths
 The reds have the longest wavelengths
 Pigments – substances that absorb specific light wavelengths (photon energy)
 Each has a unique absorption spectrum
 Photosynthetic pigments – set of pigments that absorb visible light and transfer
the energy from the photons.

Most common in
plants

Corn

Accessory in
plants

Tomatoes
 An absorption spectrum shows which wavelengths of light are being absorbed by a given pigment.
 Chloroplast pigments provide clues into which wavelengths are most effective for photosynthesis.

Chlorophyll a

Chlorophyll b
Absorption of light by
chloroplast pigments

Carotenoids

Wavelength of light (nm)

 the Action Spectrum
 Theodor Engelmann (1843-1909) - German botanist who demonstrated the action spectrum for photosynthesis
 Placed a filament of green algae on a light spectrum created by a prism (exposed different segments of algae to different wavelengths)
 Then placed aerobic bacteria on the slide and observed where they grew best (in terms of wavelength)
 Determined the violet-blue and red portions of the visible spectrum are the most effective for photosynthesis.

The resulting action spectrum resembles the

absorption spectrum for chlorophyll a but does not
match exactly… why?

The rate of photosynthesis versus wavelength

 Chloroplast

 Converts solar energy to chemical energy

 End products are ATP & NADPH
Granum
Chloroplast

Granum

Thylakoid Membrane • Splits water

• Produces ATP
• Forms NADPH
Photosystems • Release O2
 The mosaic lipid bilayer of the thylakoid
 Proteins found in this membrane include:
 2 types of photosystem proteins for light absorption
 The proteins for the ETC
 Several enzymes
 NADP reductase
 ATP synthase
 Large protein complexes that collect light and transfer energy to
electrons
 Composed of:
 Reaction center
 Contains specialized chlorphyll a molecules
 Light-harvesting complexes
 Consist of pigment molecules bound to particular proteins
 Funnels the energy of photons of light to the reaction center
Thylakoid membrane

Two types of Photosystems

1. Photosystem II
2. Photosystem I
 When a pigment absorbs light it goes from a ground state to an excited state (unstable)
 By themselves, are these energy conversions useful?
 Think about the Photosystems & the ETC
 Light is passed
through the light
harvesting
complexes to the
reaction center.

The electrons from

water are donated to The energy from the
the special photons is
chlorophyll a transferred to the
molecules. They are special chlorophyll
ready to be excited a’s electrons
again.

The excited
Water is spilt into electron is passed
electrons, H+, to an electron
and free oxygen. accept to take it
Oxygen is to the ETC
expelled through
the stomata pores
 Light is passed
through the light
harvesting
complexes to the
reaction center.

The electrons from

The energy from the
PSII/ETC are donated to
photons is
the special chlorophyll a
transferred to the
molecules. They are
special chlorophyll
ready to be excited
a’s electrons
again.

The excited electron is

The electrons passed to an electron
from PSII is acceptor to take it to
passed through NADP+ reductase
the ETC.
 2 parts of the ETC in the light reaction
 First  Second
 Transports e- from PSII to PSI via:  Transports e- from PSI to NADP reductase
 Plastoquinone (Qb) via:
 Cytochrome b6f  Ferredoxin
 Plastocyanin
1. List the inputs and outputs of the Calvin Cycle.

2. Explain the chemical connection between photosynthetic

light reactions and the Calvin Cycle.
 Stage of photosynthesis that is considered light-independent.
 Purpose is to utilize ATP, NADPH, and CO2 to produce Sugar.
 Uses ATP as energy
 NADPH for reducing power

 Occurs in the stroma of the chloroplast.

 1. Carbon Fixation
• RuBisCO (enzyme) catalyzes the reaction of CO2 and RuBP
into 2 molecules of 3PGA (3-phospho glyceric acid)
• Each turn of the cycle involves only one RuBP and one
carbon dioxide and forms two molecules of 3-PGA
• This process is called carbon fixation, because CO2 is
“fixed” from an inorganic form into organic molecules

2. Reduction
• ATP and NADPH are used to convert the 2 molecules of 3-
PGA into 2 molecules of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (G3P)
• Reduction because 3-PGA gains electrons
• Overall, 5 G3P are recycled into RuBP and 1 G3P exits the
cycle (after 3 turns) and go into making sugar.

3. Regeneration
• Five G3P molecules remain in the cycle and are used to
regenerate RuBP, which enables the system to prepare for
more CO2 to be fixed Sugar
• Three more molecules of ATP are used in these
regeneration rxns
• Remember, the other G3P molecule left the cycle and was
sent to the cytoplasm to contribute to the formation of
sugar 3 “turns” are required to output 1 G3P
• Three turns of the Calvin cycle are needed to make one G3P
• In three turns of the Calvin cycle:
• Carbon: 3 CO2 combine with 3 RuBP acceptors, making 6 molecules of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P)
• 1 G3P molecule exits the cycle and goes towards making glucose
• 5 G3P molecules are recycled, regenerating 3 RuBP molecules
• ATP: 9 ATP are converted to 9 ADP (6 during the fixation step, 3 during the regeneration step)
• NADPH: 6 NADPH are converted to 6 NADP+ (during the reduction step)

• A G3P molecule contains three fixed carbon atoms, so it

takes two G3Ps to build a six-carbon glucose molecule

• It would take six turns of the cycle or: 6 CO2, 18 ATP, &
12 NADPH to produce one molecule of glucose

Know what comes in and

what goes out!
Photochemical Reactions Biochemical Reactions
Light Dependent Light Independent
Instantaneously carried out by molecules in the thylakoid Fast, but not instant, and take place in the stroma of the
membranes chloroplast
Convert light energy to the chemical energy of ATP and Uses ATP and NADPH to convert CO2 to the sugar G3P, stores as
NADPH starch
Splits H20 to release 02 to atmosphere and activates ETC Returns ADP, Pi, and NADP+ to the light reactions
1. Compare/Contrast the mechanisms for ATP synthesis in
chloroplasts and mitochondria and specific subcellular
locations where these processes occur.

2. Explain the relationship between photosynthesis and cellular

respiration in plants.
 Chloroplasts & Mitochondria
 Generate ATP by the same basic mechanism (chemiosmosis)
 BUT…
 Use different sources of energy to accomplish this. What are they?
 Differ in spatial organization of chemiosmosis Think about H+ concentrations!