Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert carbon dioxide, water, and light energy into glucose. This occurs in chloroplasts located in leaf cells. Light-dependent reactions use energy from sunlight to produce ATP and NADPH. The Calvin Cycle then uses these products to fix carbon from carbon dioxide into organic compounds like glucose. Photosynthesis is essential as it produces the glucose necessary to fuel plant activities and releases oxygen as a byproduct.
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert carbon dioxide, water, and light energy into glucose. This occurs in chloroplasts located in leaf cells. Light-dependent reactions use energy from sunlight to produce ATP and NADPH. The Calvin Cycle then uses these products to fix carbon from carbon dioxide into organic compounds like glucose. Photosynthesis is essential as it produces the glucose necessary to fuel plant activities and releases oxygen as a byproduct.
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert carbon dioxide, water, and light energy into glucose. This occurs in chloroplasts located in leaf cells. Light-dependent reactions use energy from sunlight to produce ATP and NADPH. The Calvin Cycle then uses these products to fix carbon from carbon dioxide into organic compounds like glucose. Photosynthesis is essential as it produces the glucose necessary to fuel plant activities and releases oxygen as a byproduct.
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert carbon dioxide, water, and light energy into glucose. This occurs in chloroplasts located in leaf cells. Light-dependent reactions use energy from sunlight to produce ATP and NADPH. The Calvin Cycle then uses these products to fix carbon from carbon dioxide into organic compounds like glucose. Photosynthesis is essential as it produces the glucose necessary to fuel plant activities and releases oxygen as a byproduct.
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Photosynthesis Interactive Part 1 – Jason Bao
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Description of How Photosynthesis Works:
Overall, photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert carbon dioxide, water, and light energy, into glucose that fuels its activities, releasing oxygen as a byproduct. This important process occurs in the leaf of a plant, specifically the palisade mesophyll cells at the top of the leaf. Chloroplast are found in these cells, and they contain green disks called thylakoids that are home to light dependent reactions and stroma, the fluid surrounding thylakoids and place where the Calvin Cycle occurs. Specifically, light dependent reactions occur on the thylakoid membrane of the chloroplast. First, light strikes the chlorophyll in photosystem II, causing the electrons to become excited and gain energy. These electrons leave photosystem II and travel down the proteins of the electron transport chain. These electrons must be replaced, a process that occurs in step 2 in which water is split in photolysis to replace these electrons, producing hydrogen ions (H+) and oxygen. Next, as electrons travel down the chain, their energy is used to pump protons across the membrane into thylakoid space, leading to a higher concentration of H+ in thylakoid space and lower concentration in stroma. As such, by the process of facilitated diffusion, H+ moves from high to low concentration through the ATP Synthase. This diffusion through ATP Synthase causes it to rotate, generating the mechanical energy to produce ATP, which is later used in the Calvin Cycle. Later, the electrons continue moving down to the ETC to photosystem I when light strikes the photosystem to cause the excited electrons to move down the second electron transport chain to eventually reduce NADP+ to form NADPH. NADPH carries the necessary electrons to the stroma to be used in the Calvin Cycle. Next, after the light dependent reactions of photosynthesis, a cycle of light independent reactions known as the Calvin Cycle occurs in the stroma of the chloroplast. In phase I (Carbon Fixation), CO2 attaches to RuBP with the enzyme Rubisco, which forms 2 molecules of 3- phosphoglucerate for each CO2. Then, in phase II (Reduction), each molecule of 3- phosphoglycerate is reduced to form G3P, a process that requires energy from ATP and electrons from NADPH that results in the production of 6 G3P. One molecule of G3P will leave the Calvin Cycle while the other five G3P molecules used to regenerate RuBP so that Calvin Cycle can continue. Finally, in phase III (Regeneration of RuBP), a series of reactions converts the 5 G3P into 3 RuBP with the use of ATP, which allows the Calvin Cycle to occur again with carbon fixation. Once the cycle cycles twice, two molecules of G3P can combine to form one molecule of glucose and the cycle continues to make organic compounds by reducing carbon dioxide. As such, photosynthesis is a complex but necessary process that combines a series of light dependent and independent (Calvin Cycle) processes in order to produce glucose, a molecule necessary for energy to ensure the proper functioning of all of an organism’s activities.
