N

EDEN UNIVERSITY
Group report on photosynthesis
Sizile Jestina Mangena 2022010646
Faith Billy 2022012149
Preciate Munashe Daure 2022010383
Mailoshi kilumelume 2022011252
Nkonde victor. 2022010552
Boy kayombo. 2022012289
Violet mussa MB081164. 2022011442
Miranda T 2023012245
Nyamupfukudza Darlington W 2023011494

CONTAINT

What we knew about photosynthesis.

What we've now learned about photosynthesis
Photosynthesis
Leaves and leaf structure
The structure of the chloroplast and photosynthetic membranes
Stages of photosynthesis
The light-dependent reactions
Non-cyclic phosphorylation (the Z scheme)
Chemiosmosis and ATP synthesis
Cyclic phosphorylation
The light-independent reactions
Summary of stages of photosynthesis

Factors affecting the rate of photosynthesis

Challenges faced

What we knew about photosynthesis

Photosynthesis is a process by which plants make carbohydrates using the suns
energy, carbon dioxide and water. This process produces carbon dioxide. The
exchange of gases take place in and out of the stomata. The leaves contain
chloroplast which in it is the pigment chlorophyll. The spaces between sponge
cells is to allow free movement of gases. The roots, stem and leaves all play a
part in photosynthesis. Finally, photosynthesis is important for leaving things
like animals as it produces oxygen and food food.
HjPhotosynthesis

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, some bacteria and some protistans
use the energy from sunlight to produce glucose from carbon dioxide and water. This
glucose can be converted into pyruvate which releases adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
by cellular respiration. Oxygen is also formed. Photosynthesis may be summarised by
the word equation:

carbon dioxide + water. glucose + oxygen

The conversion of usable sunlight energy into chemical energy is associated with
the action of the green pigment chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is a complex molecule.
Several modifications of chlorophyll occur among plants and other photosynthetic
organisms. All photosynthetic organisms have chlorophyll a. Accessory pigments
absorb energy that chlorophyll a does not absorb. Accessory pigments include
chlorophyll b (also c, d, and e in algae and protistans), xanthophylls, and
carotenoids (such as beta-carotene). Chlorophyll a absorbs its energy from the
violet-blue and reddish orange-red wavelengths, and little from the intermediate
(green-yellow-orange) wavelengths.
All chlorophylls have:
• a lipid-soluble hydrocarbon tail (C20H39 -)
• a flat hydrophilic head with a magnesium ion at its centre; different
chlorophylls have different side-groups on the head
The tail and head are linked by an ester bond.

Leaves and leaf structure

Plants are the only photosynthetic organisms to have leaves (and not all plants
have leaves). A leaf may be viewed as a solar collector crammed full of
photosynthetic cells. The raw materials of photosynthesis, water and carbon
dioxide, enter the cells of the leaf, and the products of photosynthesis, sugar and
oxygen, leave the leaf. Water enters the root and is transported up to the leaves
through specialized plant cells known as xylem vessels. Land plants must guard
against drying out and so have evolved specialized structures known as stomata to
allow gas to enter and leave the leaf. Carbon dioxide cannot pass through the
protective waxy layer covering the leaf (cuticle), but it can enter the leaf
through the stoma (the singular of stomata), flanked by two guard cells. Likewise,
oxygen produced during photosynthesis can only pass out of the leaf through the
opened stomata. Unfortunately for the plant, while these gases are moving between
the inside and outside of the leaf, a great deal of water is also lost. Cottonwood
trees, for example, will lose 100 gallons (about 450 dm3) of water per hour during
hot desert days.

The structure of the chloroplast and photosynthetic membranes

The thylakoid is the structural unit of photosynthesis. Both photosynthetic
prokaryotes and eukaryotes have these flattened sacs/vesicles containing
photosynthetic chemicals. Only eukaryotes have chloroplasts with a surrounding
membrane.Thylakoids are stacked like pancakes in stacks known collectively as
grana. The areas between grana are referred to as stroma. While the mitochondrion
has two membrane systems, the chloroplast has three, forming three compartments.

Stages of photosynthesis
When chlorophyll a absorbs light energy, an electron gains energy and is 'excited'.
The excited electron is transferred to another molecule (called a primary electron
acceptor). The chlorophyll molecule is oxidized (loss of electron) and has a
positive charge. Photoactivation of chlorophyll a results in the splitting of water
molecules and the transfer of energy to ATP and reduced nicotinamide adenine
dinucleotide phosphate (NADP).

The chemical reactions involved include:

• condensation reactions - responsible for water molecules splitting out, including
phosphorylation (the addition of a phosphate group to an organic compound)
• oxidation/reduction (redox) reactions involving electron transfer Photosynthesis
is a two stage process.

The light dependent reactions, a light-dependent series of reactions which occur in

the grana, and require the direct energy of light to make energy-carrier molecules
that are used in the second process:
• light energy is trapped by chlorophyll to make ATP (photophosphorylation)
• at the same time water is split into oxygen, hydrogen ions and free electrons:
2H2O 4H+ + O2 + 4e- (photolysis)
• the electrons then react with a carrier molecule nicotinamide adenine
dinucleotide phosphate (NADP), changing it from its oxidised state (NADP+) to its
reduced state (NADPH):
NADP+ + 2e- + 2H+ NADPH + H+

The light-independent reactions, a light-independent series of reactions which

occur in the stroma of the chloroplasts, when the products of the light reaction,
ATP and NADPH, are used to make carbohydrates from carbon dioxide (reduction);
initially glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (a 3-carbon atom molecule) is formed.

The light-dependent reactions

When light energy is absorbed by a chlorophyll molecule its electrons gain energy
and move to higher energy levels in the molecule (photoexcitation). Sufficient
energy ionises the molecule, with the electron being 'freed' leaving a positively
charged chlorophyll ion. This is called photoionisation. In whole chloroplasts each
chlorophyll molecule is associated with an electron acceptor and an electron donor.
These three molecules make up the core of a photosystem. Two electrons from a
photoionised chlorophyll molecule are transferred to the electron acceptor. The
positively charged chlorophyll ion then takes a pair of electrons from a
neighbouring electron donor such as water.
An electron transfer system (a series of chemical reactions) carries the two
electrons to and fro across the thylakoid membrane. The energy to drive these
processes comes from two photosystems:
• Photosystem II (PSII) (P680)
• Photosystem I (PSI) (P700)
It may seem confusing, but PSII occurs before PSI. It is named because it was the
second to be discovered and hence named second. The energy changes accompanying the
two sets of changes make a Z shape when drawn out. This is why the electron
transfer process is sometimes called the Z scheme. Key to the scheme is that
sufficient energy is released during electron transfer to enable ATP to be made
from ADP and phosphate.

Non-cyclic phosphorylation (the Z scheme)

Both adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and NADPH are produced. In the first photosystem
(Photosystem II, PSII):
• photoionisation of chlorophyll transfers excited electrons to an electron
acceptor
• photolysis of water (an electron donor) produces oxygen molecules, hydrogen ions
and electrons, and the latter are transferred to the positively-charged chlorophyll
• the electron acceptor passes the electrons to the electron transport chain; the
final acceptor is photosystem PSI

• further absorbed light energy increases the energy of the electrons, sufficient
for the reduction of NADP+ to NADPH
Chemiosmosis and ATP synthesis
The components of non-cyclic phosphorylation are found in the thylakoid membranes
of the chloroplast. Electrons passing through the transport chain provide energy to
pump H+ ions from the stroma, across the thylakoid membrane into the thylakoid
compartment. H+ ions are more concentrated in the thylakoid compartment than in the
stroma. We say there is an electrochemical gradient. H+ ions diffuse from the high
to the low regions of concentration. This drives the production of ATP.
Cyclic phosphorylation
The net effect of non-cyclic phosphorylation is to pass electrons from water to
NADP. Energy released enables the production of ATP. But much more ATP is needed to
drive the light-independent reactions.This extra energy is obtained from cyclic
phosphorylation. This involves only Photosystem I which generates excited
electrons. These are transferred to the electron transport chain between PSII and
PSI, rather than to NADP+ and so no NADPH is formed. The cycle is completed by
electrons being transported back to PSI by the electron transport system.
The light-independent reactions
In the Light-Independent Process (the Dark reaction) carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere (or water for aquatic/marine organisms) is captured and modified by the
addition of hydrogen to form carbohydrates. The incorporation of carbon dioxide
into organic compounds is known as carbon fixation. The energy for this comes from
the first phase of the photosynthetic process. Living systems cannot directly
utilize light energy, but can, through a complicated series of reactions, convert
it into C-C bond energy that can be released by glycolysis and other metabolic
processes. Carbon dioxide combines with a five-carbon sugar, ribulose 1,5-
biphosphate (RuBP). A six-carbon sugar forms but is unstable. Each molecule breaks
down to form two glycerate 3-phosphate (GP) molecules.
Of each pair of GALP molecules produced:

• one molecule is the initial end product of photosynthesis; it is quickly

converted to glucose and other carbohydrates, lipids or amino acids
• one molecule forms RuBP through a series of chemical reactions
The first steps in the Calvin cycle
The first stable product of the Calvin Cycle is phosphoglycerate (PGA), a 3-C
chemical. The energy from ATP and NADPH energy carriers generated by the
photosystems is used to phosphorylate the PGA. Eventually there are 12 molecules of
glyceraldehyde phosphate (also known as phosphoglyceraldehyde or PGAL, a 3-C), two
of which are removed from the cycle to make a glucose. The remaining PGAL molecules
are converted by ATP energy to reform six RuBP molecules, and thus start the cycle
again.
Summary of stages of photosynthesis
Light enters chloroplastchloroplast in grana captures light energyremaining energy
carried to stroma
Some energy used to water into hydrogen and
oxygen
Oxygen released in air.
Stroma combines hydrogen and

carbon dioxide to make carbohydrates

Hydrogen carried to the troma

Carbon dioxide enters leaf.

Carbohydrates carried to the cell of the plant

Factors affecting the rate of photosynthesis

The main factors are light intensity, carbon dioxide concentration and temperature,
known as limiting factors. As light intensity increases, the rate of the light-
dependent reaction, and therefore photosynthesis generally, increases
proportionately. As light intensity is increased however, the rate of
photosynthesis is eventually limited by some other factor. Chlorophyll a is used in
both photosystems. The wavelength of light is also important. PSI absorbs energy
most efficiently at 700 nm and PSII at 680 nm. Light with a high proportion of
energy concentrated in these wavelengths will produce a high rate of
photosynthesis. An increase in the carbon dioxide concentration increases the rate
at which carbon is incorporated into carbohydrate in the light-independent reaction
and so the rate of photosynthesis generally increases until limited by another
factor. Photosynthesis is dependent on temperature. It is a reaction catalysed by
enzymes. As the enzymes approach their optimum temperatures the overall rate
increases. Above the optimum temperature the rate begins to decrease until it
stops.

Challenges faced
We didn't understand about the wave length.
Didn't understand about the reflection of wave length.
We didn't understand about the calvin cycle.
When explaining the main structure involved in photosynthesis, do we start
explaining from the roots? E.g companion cells.
We didn't understand about cyclic phosphorylation and non cyclic phosphorylation.
We didn't understand about the generating of an energy carrier.