7.

1 An Overview of Photosynthesis
• Most of the energy used by almost all
living cells ultimately comes from the sun
 plants, algae, and some bacteria capture the
sunlight energy by a process called
photosynthesis
 only about 1% of the available energy in
sunlight is captured
7.1 An Overview of Photosynthesis
• Photosynthesis takes places in three
stages

1. capturing energy from sunlight

1. using the captured energy to produce ATP and

NADPH

1. using the ATP and NADPH to make

carbohydrates from CO2 in the atmosphere
7.1 An Overview of Photosynthesis
• The overall reaction for photosynthesis may be summarized by this
equation

6 CO2 + 12 H2O + light  C6H12O6 + 6 H2O + 6 O2

• The process of photosynthesis is divided into two types of reactions

 light-dependent reactions
• take place only in the presence of light and produce ATP and NADPH

 light-independent reactions
• do not need light to occur and result in the formation of organic molecules
• more commonly known as the Calvin cycle
7.1 An Overview of Photosynthesis
• All stages of photosynthesis take place in
the chloroplast
 the chloroplast contains internal membranes
called thylakoids
 the thylakoids are stacked together in
columns called grana
 the stroma is a semiliquid substance that
surrounds the thylakloids
7.1 An Overview of Photosynthesis
• The photosystem is the starting point of
photosynthesis
 it is a network of pigments in the membrane of
the thylakoid
• the primary pigment of a photosystem is
chlorophyll
• the pigments act as an antenna to capture energy
from sunlight
• individual chlorophyll pigments pass the captured
energy between them
Figure 7.1 Journey into a leaf
Figure 7.1 Journey into a leaf
 7.2 How Plants Capture Energy
from Sunlight
• Light is comprised of packets of energy
called photons
 sunlight has photons of varying energy levels
• the possible range of energy levels is represented
by an electromagnetic spectrum
 human eyes only perceive photons of
intermediate energy levels
• this range of the spectrum is known as visible
light
Figure 7.2 Photons of different energy:
the electromagnetic spectrum
 7.2 How Plants Capture Energy
from Sunlight
• Pigments are molecules that absorb light
energy
 the main pigment in plants is chlorophyll
• chlorophyll absorbs light at the end of the visible spectrum,
mainly blue and red light
 plants also contain other pigments, called accessory
pigments, that absorb light levels that chlorophyll
does not
• these pigments give color to flowers, fruits, and vegetables
• they are present in leaves too but masked by chlorophyll until
the fall when the chlorophyll is broken down
Figure 7.4 Absorption spectra of
chlorophylls and carotenoids
 7.3 Organizing Pigments into
Photosystems
• In plants, the light-dependent reactions occur
within a complex of proteins and pigments called
photosystems
 light energy is first captured by any one of the
chlorophyll pigments
 the energy is passed along to other pigments until it
reaches the reaction center chlorophyll molecule
 the reaction center then releases an excited electron,
which is then transferred to an electron acceptor
 the excited electron that is lost is then replaced by an
electron donor
Figure 7.8 How a photosystem
works
 7.3 Organizing Pigments into
Photosystems
• The light-dependent reactions in plants and
algae use two photosystems
 Photosystem II
• captures a photon of light and releases an excited electron to
the electron transport system (ETS)
– the ETS then produces ATP
– a molecule of water is split to replace the excited electron from
the reaction center
 Photosystem I
• absorbs another photon of light and releases an excited
electron to another ETS
– the ETS produces NADPH
– the electron from photosystem II replaces the electron from the
reaction center
Figure 7.7 Plants use two
photosystems
 7.4 How Photosystems Convert
Light to Chemical Energy
• Plants produce both ATP and NADPH by
non-cyclic photophosphorylation
 the excited electrons flow through both
photosystems and end up in NADPH
 high energy electrons generated by
photosystem II are used to make ATP and
then passed along to photosystem I to drive
the production of NADPH
 7.4 How Photosystems Convert
Light to Chemical Energy
• Photosystem II
 its reaction center consists of more than ten
transmembrane proteins
 this is surrounded by an antenna complex of
pigments that funnel captured photons to the reaction
center
 the reaction center yields an excited electron to the
primary electron acceptor
 water is split to provide replacement electrons to the
reaction center, resulting in the production of O2
 7.4 How Photosystems Convert
Light to Chemical Energy
• The electron transport system (ETS)
receives the excited electron from the
electron acceptor
 the ETS is comprised of proteins that are
embedded in the thylakoid membrane
 one of these proteins acts as a proton pump
to move a proton from the stroma into the
thylakoid space
 at the end of the ETS, the electron is passed
to the reaction center of photosystem I
 7.4 How Photosystems Convert
Light to Chemical Energy
• As a result of the proton pump of the ETS, a
large concentration of protons builds up in the
thylakoid space
 the thylakoid membrane is impermeable to protons
 protons can only re-enter the stroma by traveling
through a protein channel called ATP synthase
• the protons follow their concentration gradient in a process
called chemiosmosis
• as protons cross the ATP synthase, ADP is phosphorylated
into ATP
Figure 7.10 Chemiosmosis in a
chloroplast
 7.4 How Photosystems Convert
Light to Chemical Energy
• Photosystem I
 its reaction center is comprised of a membrane
complex of at least 13 protein subunits
 this is surrounded by an antenna complex of
pigments that funnel captured photons to the reaction
center
 the reaction center yields an excited electron to an
electron to an ETS that in turn reduces NADP+ into
NADPH
• because this removes a proton from the stroma, the
production of NADP also aids in establishing the proton
gradient for chemiosmosis to occur
Figure 7.9 The photosynthetic
electron transport system
 7.5 Building New Molecules
• Cells use the products of the light-dependent
reactions to build organic molecules
 ATP is needed to drive endergonic reactions
 NADPH is needed to provide reducing power in the
form of hydrogens

• The synthesis of new molecules employs the

light-independent, or Calvin cycle, reactions
 these reactions are also known as C3 photosynthesis
 7.5 Building New Molecules
• The Calvin cycle reactions occur in three stages

1. Carbon fixation

– carbon from CO2 in the air is attached to an organic molecule, RUBP

1. Making sugars

– the carbons are shuffled about through a series of reactions to make

sugars

1. Reforming RUBP

– the remaining molecules are used to reform RUBP

Figure 7.11 How the Calvin cycle
works
 7.5 Building New Molecules
• The Calvin cycle must “turn” 6 times in order to
form a new glucose molecule
 only one carbon is added from CO2 per turn

• The Calvin cycle also recycles reactants needed

for the light-dependent reactions
 it returns ADP so that it is available for chemiosmosis
in photosystem II
 it returns NADP+ back to the ETS of photosystem I
Figure 7.12 Reactions of the Calvin cycle

Rubisco is the most abundant enzyme in the living world.