Photosynthesis

1. Photosynthesis What is it? What is an electron transport chain? What is the Calvin Cycle? What is Glycolysis?

2. Photosynthesis • Plant photosynthesis occurs in leaves and green stems within specialized cell structures called chloroplasts. • One plant leaf is composed of tens of thousands of cells, and each cell contains 40 to 50 chloroplasts.

3. Light Dependent Reactions • Photosynthesis is a very complex process, and for the sake of convenience and ease of understanding, plant biologists divide it into two stages. • In the first stage, the light-dependent reaction, the chloroplast traps light energy and converts it into chemical energy contained in nicotinamideadenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) and adenosine triphosphate(ATP), two molecules used in the second stage of photosynthesis.

4. Light-independent Reactions • In the second stage, called the light-independent reaction (formerly called the dark reaction), NADPH provides the hydrogen atoms that help form glucose, and ATP provides the energy for this and other reactions used to synthesize glucose.

5. Electron Transport • Photosynthesis relies on flows of energy and electrons initiated by light energy. • Light energy causes the electrons in chlorophyll and other light-trapping pigments to boost up and out of their orbit; the electrons instantly fall back into place, releasing resonance energy, or vibrating energy, as they go, all in millionths of a second.

6. Chlorophyll and the other pigments are clustered next to one another in the photosystems, and the vibrating energy passes rapidly from one chlorophyll or pigment molecule to the next, like the transfer of energy in billiard balls.

7. Photosynthesis begins when light strikes Photosystem I pigments and excites their electrons. The energy passes rapidly from molecule to molecule until it reaches a special chlorophyll molecule

8. In Summary • The transfer of electrons in a step-by-step fashion in Photosystems I and II releases energy and heat slowly, thus protecting the chloroplast and cell from a harmful temperature increase. • It also provides time for the plant to form NADPH and ATP. In the words of American biochemist and Nobel laureate Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, “What drives life is thus a little electric current, set up by the sunshine.”

9. Light-independent Reactions • The chemical energy required for the light-independent reaction is supplied by the ATP and NADPH molecules produced in the light-dependent reaction. • The light-independent reaction is cyclic, that is, it begins with a molecule that must be regenerated at the end of the reaction in order for the process to continue.

10. Calvin Cycle • The light-independent reactions use the electrons and hydrogen ions associated with NADPH and the phosphorus associated with ATP to produce glucose. • These reactions occur in the stroma, the fluid in the chloroplast surrounding the thylakoids, and each step is controlled by a different enzyme.

11. Cellular Respiration Glycolysis

12. process in which cells produce the energy they need to survive. In cellular respiration, cells use oxygen to break down the sugar glucose and store its energy in molecules of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). • Cellular respiration is critical for the survival of most organisms because the energy in glucose cannot be used by cells until it is stored in ATP. Cells use ATP to power virtually all of their activities—to grow, divide, replace worn out cell parts, and execute many other tasks.