PHOTOSYSTEMS I&II

OVERVIEW OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS
A process by which autotrophic organisms use light
energy to make sugar & oxygen gas from carbon
dioxide & water.
 Occurs in chloroplast, an organelle in mesophyll
MECHANISM OF
PHOTOSYNTHESIS

 Divided into 2 phases :

 Light reaction
a) photolysis of water
b)phosphorylation
 Dark reaction (carbon fixation or calvin cycle)
 Light reaction is light dependent & takes place in
grana of chloroplast & its product is NADPH & ATP.
 Dark reaction is light independent & occurs in
stroma of chloroplast.
FOUR PROCESSES OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS
1) light absorption & energy delivery by antenna
systems
2) primary electron transfer in reaction centers
3) energy stabilization by secondary processes
4)synthesis & export of stable products
 PIGMENTS
 Pigments are chemical compounds which reflect only certain
wavelengths of visible light.
 Pigments are colored.

 Easily excited by light energy.

 Photosynthetic pigments are of 3 types

1)Chlorophylls (chlorophyll a & b)

2)Accessory photosynthetic pigment or carotenoids (carotene &
xanthophyll)
3) phycobilins
 CHLOROPHYLL A
 Most important pigment in photosynthesis.
 Absorbs blue,red & violet wavelengths in the visible
spectrum.
 Formula is C55H72O5N4Mg
 Complex ring structure having 2 parts i.e. head & tail
 Has a methyl (-CH3) side group in porphyrin ring
 Function to initiate light dependent reaction
 Found in photosynthetic organisms
 CHLOROPHYLL B
 Its structure is similar to chlorophyll a but CH3 is replaced by
CHO.
 So molecular formula is C55H70O6N4Mg

 It primarily absorbs blue light

 Pass the light energy to chlorophyll a in the reaction center.

 Helps to increase the range of light a plant can utilize for

photosynthesis.
 Found in green plants and green algae
CHLOROPHYLL STRUCTURE
 ACCESSORY PIGMENTS
 They are not directly involved in LDR.
 Includes carotenes & xanthophylls.

 Carotenes are hydrocarbons with general molecular formula

C4H56
 They absorb wavelengths that are not efficiently absorbed by
chlorophylls
 Functions as accessory or antenna pigments

1)transfer the light energy they capture to chlorophyll to use in the

LDR.
2)Protect chlorophyll a from photo-oxidation
PHOTOSYSTEMS
 Photosystem

 Network of chlorophyll a, b, accessory pigments and

associated protein embedded in the thylakoid
membrane
 Functions to channel the excitation energy gathered
by any one of its pigments molecule to the reaction
centre
 Consists of :
Antenna complex

Reaction centre

 There are two kinds of photosystems: I and II

 PHOTOSYSTEM II
 Absorbs light at 680nm
 Water splits and electrons enter PSII reaction centre.

 When P680 gains energy, electrons become excited and leave the
molecule
 They are readily captured by primary electron acceptor

 Primary electron acceptors: Plastoquinone, Cyt bf, Plastocyanine

 As the electron pass through the electron transport chain its

energy is released and is used by thylakoid membrane to
synthesize ATP.
 PHOTOSYSTEM I (P700)
 Absorbs light of 700nm
 The electrons from photosystem II finally reaches the
reaction centre of photosystem I.
 Then electrons move to the primary electron acceptor.
 From here they pass to Ferrodoxin (Fd).
 The electrons then passes from Ferrodoxin to NADP,
taking H+ and forming NADPH2.
SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM.
 OVERALL RESULT OF Z-SCHEME.
 The result of the non-cyclic electron flow is that water
is oxidized yielding H+,e- and O2.
 ATP is produced.
 NADP+ becomes NADPH2.
 The hydrogen and Energy of NADPH2 and ATP
produced in the light reaction are used in dark
reaction.
PHOTOPHOSPHORYLATION
 Photophosphorylation is the process of creating ATP
using a proton gradient created by the energy gathered
from sunlight.
 But since formation of this proton gradient is light-
dependent, the process is called photophosphorylation.
 Two types of photophosphorylation:

 Non-cyclic photophosphorylation
 Cyclic photophosphorylation
 Non-cyclic photophosphorylation
 Light energy is absorbed by accessory (antenna)
pigments of PS II / P680
 Then transferred to reaction centre (chlorophyll a)
 Photolysis of water molecule to form 2 electrons, 2H+
and 1 oxygen atom
 There are 2H+ released into the thylakoid lumen
 Two oxygen atoms will join together to create an
oxygen molecule which is released from the plant as a
byproduct of the entire reaction.
 Electron is photoactivated / excited and released
 This creates an electron deficiency
 P680 oxidized to P680+
 Electron from photolysis of water replace the
electrons released from PS II
 The P680+ /PS II molecule returns to its reduced /
stabilized state
 The electrons released from PS II are accepted by
primary electron acceptor/ pheophytin
 Pheo- rapidly passes its extra electron to a
protein bound plastoquinone.
 From PQ to b6f complex and then to plastocyanin
 Plastocyanin carries the electron to PS I reaction
center
 As the electron passed through the cytochrome
complex, energy is released through redox reaction.
 The energy is used to pump H+ from the stroma (low
concentration of H+) into the thylakoid lumen (high
concentration of H+)
 Creating a proton gradient between the stroma and
thylakoid lumen that is used in chemiosmosis.
 At the same time, high energy electrons in P700/PS
I are ejected and accepted by primary electron
acceptor
 This creates an electron deficiency
 P700 oxidized to P700+
 The excited electron move to ferredoxin (Fd)
 Fd:NADP reductase transfers the electron to NADP+
 NADP+ receives proton from photolysis of water to
form NADPH (which is released into the stroma)
 ATP and NADPH produced will be used in the
Calvin cycle
NON CYCLIC
 chemiosmosis

 Production of ATP is by chemiosmosis

 High concentration of H+ in the thylakoid space
 Low concentration of H+ in the stroma
 H+ diffuse from the thylakoid space back into the
stroma through ATP synthase
 The energy release is used to phosphorylate ADP to
form ATP (in the stroma)
 ATP and NADPH produced by non-cyclic
photophosphorylation will be used in the Calvin cycle
 CYCLIC PHOTOPHOSPHORYLATION
 The electrons carried in reduced ferredoxin can be transferred to
the cytochrome bf complex rather than the ferredoxin-NADP+
reductase complex .
 The electrons then flow back through cytochrome bf to reduce
plastocyanin, which then reduces the P700+ to complete the
cycle.
 The net outcome of this cyclic flow of electrons is the pumping
of protons across the thylakoid membrane by the cytochrome bf
complex, producing a pH gradient which then drives the
synthesis of ATP.
 This process produces ATP without NADPH generation.
 Light energy is absorbed by accessory (antenna)
pigments of PS I / P700
 Then transferred to reaction centre (chlorophyll a)
 Electron is photoactivated / excited and released
 Accepted by primary electron acceptor
 The electron pass to ferredoxin (Fd), cytochrome
complex, plastocyanin (Pc) and back to chlorophyll a
at the reaction centre PS I / P700
 ATP is produce by chemisosmosis
 Photosynthesis depends on two reaction centre protein
complexes, photosystem II and photosystem I, which are
linked by the cytochrome bf complex and small mobile
electron carriers.

 Photosystem II, the cytochrome bf complex and

photosystem I are embedded in the thylakoid membrane
and operate in series to transfer electrons from water to
nicotinamide–adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP).

 The energy necessary to move electrons from water to

NADP is provided by light, which is captured by the
photosystem II and photosystem I antenna systems
 Photosystem II is a specialized protein complex that uses
light energy to oxidize water and to reduce plastoquinone.

 Photosystems are found in the thylakoid membranes of

plants, algae and cyanobacteria. There are two kinds of
photosystems: II and I, respectively
 Two large membrane protein complexes, Photosystems I
and II, catalyze the primary step in this energy
conversion, the light-induced charge separation across the
photosynthetic membrane
 The energy conversions catalyzed by photosynthetic
organisms are functionally divided into the light reactions
and the dark reactions that consume ATP and NADPH for
the production of carbohydrates by CO2 fixation
 The light reactions take place in the photosynthetic
membrane, and are catalyzed by four large membrane
protein complexes: Photosystems I and II, the cytochrome
b6f complex, and ATP synthase.
 .
 At the heart of a photosystem lies the reaction center, which is
surrounded by light-harvesting complexes that enhance the
absorption of light.
 Two families exist: type I reaction centers and type II reaction
centers.
 Each photosystem can be identified by the wavelength of light
to which it is most reactive, the amount and type of light-
harvesting complexes present and the type of terminal electron
acceptor used.
 Type I photosystems use ferredoxin-like iron-sulfur cluster
proteins as terminal electron acceptors, while type II
photosystems ultimately shuttle electrons to a quinone terminal
electron acceptor.
 This proton motive force is then used to drive the
synthesis of ATP. This process requires PSI, PSII,
cytochrome bf, ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase and
chloroplast ATP synthase.
 PHOTOSYSTEM II
 PSII is an integral membrane protein. The core of this
membrane protein is formed by two subunits D1 and D2.
 A special pair of chlorophyll a molecule (P680) on
excitation transfers an electron to a nearby pheophytin a
 It transfers electrons from water to plastoquinone

 Plastoquinone can functions as a one or two electron

acceptor and donor.
 When it is fully reduced to PQH2 it is called plastoquinol.

 Pheophytin is the first electron carrier intermediate in the

electron transfer pathway of PSII
 Pheophytin is the first electron carrier intermediate in the
electron transfer pathway of PSII

 The site of plastoquinone reduction is on the stroma side

of the membrane.
 For every four electrons harvested from 2H2O, 2
molecules of PQH2 are formed extracting four protons
from the stroma.
 II. Cytochrome bf
 The intermediary electron transfer complex between PSII
and PSI is cytochrome bf also known as cytochrome b6f.
 In this electron transfer complex electrons are passed one
at a time from plastoquinol to plastocyanin (Pc) a copper
protein of the thylakoid lumen.