7 Photosynthesis 7 Photosynthesis

The Basics of Photosynthesis

Chapter Contents
The Basics of Photosynthesis
The Light Reactions
The Light Reactions 명반응
The Calvin Cycle 캘빈회로
The Calvin Cycle

Why Photosynthesis Matters

Learning Objectives
Describe the structure of a chloroplast
Describe the two stages of photosynthesis
List the two types of photosystems and explain the
functions of each system
Describe how the light reaction converts solar energy
into chemical energy such as ATP and NADPH
Describe carbon fixation and rubisco
Describe photorespiration and C4 metabolism
 7 Photosynthesis

The Basics of Photosynthesis

The Basics of Photosynthesis
The Light Reactions
The Calvin Cycle

Photosynthesis is used by plants, algae (protists), and certain bacteria, transforms light energy into
chemical energy, uses CO2 and H2O, and releases O2 as a by-product.
The chemical energy produced via photosynthesis is stored in the bonds of sugar molecules.
Organisms that generate their own organic matter from inorganic ingredients are called autotrophs.
Autotrophs’ ability to transform energy and matter is vital to the existence of life on Earth.
 7 Photosynthesis

Chloroplasts : Sites of Photosynthesis

The Basics of Photosynthesis
The Light Reactions
The Calvin Cycle

Stomata are tiny pores in leaves where CO 2 enters and O2 exits. Membranes within the chloroplast
form the framework where many of the reactions of photosynthesis occur.
Like a mitochondrion, a chloroplast has a double-membrane envelope. The inner membrane
encloses a compartment filled with stroma, a thick fluid. Suspended in the stroma are interconnected
membranous sacs called thylakoids. The thylakoids are concentrated in stacks called grana. The
chlorophyll molecules that capture light energy are built into the thylakoid membranes.
 7 Photosynthesis

An Overview of Photosynthesis
The Basics of Photosynthesis
The Light Reactions
The Calvin Cycle

The reactants of photosynthesis, CO2 and H2O are the same as the waste products of cellular
respiration, and photosynthesis produces what respiration uses—glucose and O2.

Two stages of photosynthesis are connected by energy- carrying

and electron-carrying molecules:
(1) Light reactions: Chlorophyll in the thylakoid membranes
absorbs solar energy, which is then converted to the chemical
energy of ATP and NADPH
(2) Calvin cycle: ATP and NADPH, the products of the light reactions,
are used to power the production of sugar from CO2.
Carbon fixation: the initial incorporation of carbon from the
atmosphere into organic compounds
 7 Photosynthesis

Chloroplast Pigments and Photosystems

The Basics of Photosynthesis
The Light Reactions
The Calvin Cycle

Chloroplasts contain several different pigments. Chlorophyll a participates directly in light reactions.
Chlorophyll b does not participate directly in the light reactions, but it conveys absorbed energy to
chlorophyll a. Chloroplasts also contain a family of yellow-orange pigments called carotenoids.
When a pigment molecule absorbs a photon, one of the pigment’s electrons gains energy and gets
“excited.” In the thylakoid membrane, chlorophyll molecules are organized with other molecules into
photosystems. Each photosystem has a cluster of a few hundred pigment molecules, including
chlorophylls a and b and some carotenoids. This cluster of pigment molecules functions as a light-
gathering antenna.
 7 Photosynthesis

The Light Reactions of Photosynthesis

The Basics of Photosynthesis
The Light Reactions
The Calvin Cycle

Two photosystems cooperate in the light reactions:

(1) Photons excite electrons in the chlorophyll of the first photosystem.
(2) Energized electrons from the first photosystem (PII) pass down an electron transport chain to the
second photosystem. The chloroplast uses the energy released by this electron “fall” to make ATP.
(3) The second photosystem (PI) transfers its light-excited electrons to NADP+, reducing it to NADPH.
 7 Photosynthesis

The Thylakoid Membrane Converts Light Energy to

The Basics of Photosynthesis
The Light Reactions
The Calvin Cycle

Chemical Energy of ATP and NADPH

The light reactions are located in the thylakoid membrane. The two photosystems and the electron
transport chain that connects them transfer electrons from H 2O to NADP+, producing NADPH.
The mechanism of ATP production in chloroplasts is similar to that in mitochondria.

An electron transport chain pumps H+

ions across a membrane and ATP
synthases use the energy stored by the
H+ gradient to make ATP.
The main difference is that food
provides the high-energy electrons in
cellular respiration, whereas light-
excited electrons flow down the
transport chain during photosynthesis.
 7 Photosynthesis

The Calvin Cycle: Making Sugar from CO2

The Basics of Photosynthesis
The Light Reactions
The Calvin Cycle

The Calvin cycle functions like a sugar factory within a chloroplast. The Calvin cycle constructs an
energy-rich sugar molecule (G3P) using carbon from CO2, energy from ATP, and high-energy electrons
from NADPH. The plant cell can then use G3P as the raw material to make glucose and other organic
compounds.

RuBP
Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate
G3P
Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate
 7 Photosynthesis

Rubisco and C4 plants

The Basics of Photosynthesis
The Light Reactions
The Calvin Cycle

Rubisco (RuBP carboxylase/oxygenase) normally attaches CO2 to RuBP, forming the 6-carbon
product, which is the first step of carbon fixation.
Rubisco’s inefficiency in low [CO 2] leads rubisco to bind O2 instead of CO2. This fails to produce G3P,
only wasting ATP and NADPH, the valuable products from the light reaction (photorespiration).
C4 plants living in hot and dry climates tend not to open stomata as often as C3 plants to avoid water
loss, resulting in low [CO2]. To overcome rubisco’s inefficiency in low [CO2], C4 plants evolve a new
enzyme that has high affinity to CO2 and forms a 4-carbon molecule by binding CO2. This 4-carbon
molecule later releases CO2 in order for rubisco to produce G3P.