The Photosynthetic

Process
By: Group 1
 Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis came from two word ‘photo’ which
means light and 'synthesis' which means putting
together. It is the process by which living cells use
light energy to make organic compounds. It is
considered the link between the sun's energy
needs of life on Earth.
The chemical reaction for photosynthesis:
Sun
The Ultimate Source of Energy Life is powered by
sunlight. The energy for photosynthesis originates
in the Sun and arrives at Earth as radiant energy, or
commonly known as sunlight. The sunlight has both
a wave and a particle nature. The particles, or
photons, are the packets of energy. It is the basic
unit of light. Photons oscillate along a path which is
measured as wavelengths. The light emitted from
the Sun contains photons in a wide spectrum of
wavelengths, called the electromagnetic (EM)
spectrum.
 Photosynthetic organisms use only a
small portion of the EM spectrum,
called visible light. These organisms
contain pigments that facilitate the
capture of wavelengths of light in the
visible light range.

The color of the pigment comes

from the wavelength of light being
reflected. Plants appear green

Electromagnetic
because they reflect yellow and
green wavelengths of light. Red and

Spectrum blue wavelengths of light are

absorbed by the pigments and
provide the energy that is used for
photosynthesis.
 Plants are one of the photosynthetic
organisms, which is also known as photo-
autotrophs, or organisms that have the ability
to make food with the aid of light. The leaf is
the plant organ where most of the
photosynthetic process happens. The chemical
reaction of photosynthesis occurs within plant
cells in highly specialized structures known as
chloroplasts.
The Chloroplast
Within the organized system of
membranes in chloroplast, are small
disk-like structures called thylakoids
and are stack on one another in
columns called grana, which are
surrounded by a fluid-filled space
called the stroma. The thylakoid
membrane system house the
photosynthetic pigments known as
chlorophyll which absorbs the blue
and red wavelengths of light.
2 parts of Photosynthesis:

The photosynthetic process is divided into 2

sequential sets of reactions: the light-dependent
reaction and the light-independent reaction. In
the light-dependent reaction, energy from
sunlight is absorbed by chlorophyll and that
energy is converted into stored chemical energy.
In the light-independent reaction, also known as
the Calvin Cycle, the chemical energy harvested
during the light-dependent reaction drives the
assembly of sugar molecules from carbon dioxide.
 Light Dependent Reaction
The overall function of the light-dependent
reaction is to convert light energy into
chemical energy in the form of NADPH
(Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide
Phosphate) and ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate).
The light-dependent reaction occurs in the
thylakoids. It is here that the conversion of light
energy to chemical energy is initiated.

Thylakoids contain pairs of photosystems,

called Photosystem I (PSI) and Photosystem
II (PSII). These two photosystems work in
tandem to produce the energy that will be
used in the stroma to manufacture sugars.
The photosystems of the thylakoid
consist of a network of accessory
pigment molecules and chlorophyll,
which capture the photons of light.

Within the pigment molecules, the

absorb light energy excites
electrons to a higher state.
Photosystems will channel the
excitation energy gathered by the
pigment molecules to a reaction
center chlorophyll which will pass
the electrons to a series of
proteins located on the thylakoid
membrane. Photons of light strikes
simultaneously in the two
photosystems.
The energized electrons are passed
from the reaction center
chlorophyll of PSII to an electron
transport chain. The energized
electrons are accepted by
plastoquinone (Q), which passes
the energized electrons to b6f-
complex. The electrons lost by PSII
are replaced by a process called
photolysis, which involve the
oxidation of water molecule,
producing free electrons and
oxygen gas. Oxygen gas is an
important input to the cellular
respiration pathways.
Arrival of the energized electron causes the b6-f complex to pump a proton
(hydrogen ion) into the thylakoid space creating a concentration gradient. A
small copper-containing protein called plastocyanin (Pc) which carries the
low-energy electron from b6f-complex to the PSI. The low-energy
electrons leaving the plastocyanin are shuttled to PSI. Within PSI, low-
energy electrons are reenergized and are passed through to an electron
transport chain and being accepted by Ferredoxin (Fd) which passes the
reenergized electrons to NADP Reductase where the reenergized electrons
are used to reduce an electron carrier NADP+ to NADPH. The concentration
gradient powers a protein called ATP Synthase, which phosphorylates ADP
(Adenosine DiPhosphate) to form ATP.

When the chloroplast is receiving a constant supply of photons, NADPH and

ATP molecules are rapidly being provided to the metabolic pathways in the
stroma. Therefore, NADPH and ATP is the product of the light-independent
reaction and oxygen gas (O2) as the by-product of photosynthesis.
 
Light Independent Reaction or Calvin Cycle

The second stage occurs in the

stroma of the chloroplast. The
stroma houses the enzymes
needed to assemble sugar
molecules from carbon dioxide
and the products of the light-
dependent reaction. The light-
independent reaction of the
Calvin Cycle can be organized into
three basic stages:
 In Stage 1 of the light-independent
reaction (carbon fixation), the
Stage 1: Carbon Fixation
enzyme RuBisCo in the stroma
facilitates a reaction between CO₂
and ribulose biphosphate (RuBP).
Each CO₂ molecule combines with
one RuBP molecule, which has five
carbon atoms and two phosphate
groups, resulting in two molecules of
3-Phosphoglycerate (3-PGA), each
with three carbons and one
phosphate. This cycle maintains the
same number of carbon atoms and
converts CO₂ from an inorganic form
into an organic molecule, thus
"fixing" carbon.
ATP and NADPH are used to convert the
six molecules of 3-PGA into six
Stage 2: Reduction
molecules of a chemical called
glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (G3P). That
is a reduction reaction because it
involves the gain of electrons by 3-PGA.
Recall that a reduction is the gain of
electrons by an atom or molecule. Six
molecules of both ATP and NADPH are
used.

For ATP, energy is released with the loss

of the terminal phosphate atom,
converting it into ADP. For NADPH, both
energy and hydrogen atoms are lost,
converting it into NADP+. Both of these
molecules return to the light-dependent
reactions to be reused and reenergized.
 At this point, only one of the G3P Stage 3: Regeneration
molecules leaves the Calvin Cycle and is
sent to the cytoplasm to contribute to the
formation of other compounds needed by
the plant. Because the G3P exported from
the chloroplast has three carbon atoms, it
takes three "turns" of the Calvin Cycle to
fix enough net carbon to export one G3P.
But each turn makes two G3Ps, thus three
turns make six G3Ps. One is exported
while remaining five G3P molecules
remain in the cycle and are use to
regenerate RuBP, which enables the
system to prepare for more Co, to be
fixed. Three more molecules of ATP are
used in theseregeneration reactions.
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