PHOTOSYNTHESI

S- USING LIGHT
ENERGY TO
PRODUCE FOOD
HOW PLANTS PRODUCE
THEIR OWN FOOD?
 PHOTOSYNTHESIS
(Greek photos means “light” and
synthesis is “putting together” or
“manufacture”)
Photosynthesis is the process by
which plants convert energy from the
sun to provide energy for almost all
life forms.
Leaves: Specialized Organs for
Photosynthesis
 Stomata (stoma)
 found in the underside of the leaf
blade allow raw materials for
photosynthesis, such as Carbon
dioxide, to pass through, and to allow
oxygen, a waste product, to exit the
leaf.
 Chloroplast
 a green plastids found in photosynthetic cell.
 are the food producers of the cell. The organelles
are only found in plant cells and some protists
such as algae
 Principal Pigments

Chlorophyll is the primary pigment in

plants; it is a chlorin that absorbs yellow
and blue wavelengths of light while
reflecting green. It is the presence and
relative abundance of chlorophyll that
gives plants their green color.
 Carotenoids are usually red, orange, or yellow
pigments, and include the familiar compound
carotene, which gives carrots their color.
 Anthocyanins (literally "flower blue") are water-
soluble flavonoid pigments that appear red to blue,
according to pH. They occur in all tissues of
higher plants, providing color in leaves, plant
stem, roots, flowers, and fruits, though not always
in sufficient quantities to be noticeable.
Structure of Chloroplast
 Thylakoid- is a sheet-like membrane-bound structure
that is the site of the light-dependent photosynthesis
reactions in chloroplasts and cyanobacteria. It is the site
that contains the chlorophyll used to absorb light and
use it for biochemical reactions. The word thylakoid is
from the Green word thylakos, which means pouch or
sac. With the -oid ending, "thylakoid" means "pouch-
like".
 Lamella- (plural: "lamellae") in biology refers to a thin
layer, membrane, or plate of tissue.
 granum (plural grana) a stack-like structure
in plant chloroplasts that contain chlorophyll, the
site of photosynthesis.
 Stroma, refers to the colorless fluid surrounding
the grana within the chloroplast.
 The Process of making food
 When the sun heats the water in plant leaves,
photosynthetic begins.
 The molecules of chlorophyll in the chloroplasts,
which are scattered throughout each plant cell,
absorb energy in the form of sunlight.
 Plants take Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
through stomata. Plants also absorb water and
minerals dissolved in the soil from the ground up
through their roots.
Two sets of reactions or stages occur
in Photosynthesis
 Light or Photochemical stage
(occur in the thylakoid
membrane)
Dark reaction or light-
independent stage or Calvin
Cycle (occur in stroma)
 Light or Photochemical stage
 the energy from the sun absorbed by the chlorophyll is
converted into chemical energy
 has two groups of light- absorbing molecules, Photosystem
I and Photosystem II.
 the photosystems transfer the energized electrons to
electron transport chains
 electrons in Photosystem II that were shuttled to
Photosystem I provide energy to make ATP
 NADP a chemical that converts two
hydrogen and water molecules to
NADPH and powerful agent for
converting Carbon dioxide to glucose
in the next step of photosynthesis
Photosystem II regains electron y
splitting water and releasing oxygen
 Dark reaction or light-
independent stage or Calvin
Cycle
 the second stage of photosynthesis
 formation of Carbon dioxide to Glucose
 a cyclical series of reactions that uses enzymes to
assemble sugar molecules from carbon dioxide
 RuBisCo (Ribulose- 1.5 biphosphate
carboxylase/oxygenase) combine carbon dioxide with
RuBP (ribulose biphosphate) a five carbon sugar
 RuBP is produce glyceraldehyde-3-
phospate (G3P), an energy- rich sugar.
G3P can be used by a plant cell to make
glucose and organic molecules.
What happen to the
Glucose formed during
Photosynthesis?
Glucose, the sugar produced, is used by
plants as a fuel for cellular respiration, and
the raw material to manufacture cellulose.
When there is an excess of sugar in their
bodies, the sugar is combined into large
carbohydrate molecule and stored as starch
in their roots, tubers, or fruits.
 The light- dependent stage of photosynthesis
splits water and produces ADP and NADPH.
Oxygen is a by-product of these reactions. ATP
and NADPH, together with carbon dioxide, are
reactants in the light- independent stage. The
products are sugar (glucose), NADP, ADP and
inorganic phosphate.
 Both reactions form a cycle in which the
reactants, water and carbon dioxide, produce
oxygen and sugar (glucose)