CHLOROPLAST

The chloroplast (Gr., chlor=green; plast=living) is most widely occurring chromoplast of the plants. It occurs
mostly in the green algae and higher plants. The chloroplast contains the pigment chlorophyll a and
chlorophyll b and DNA and RNA.
DISTRIBUTION: The chloroplasts remain distributed homogeneously in the cytoplasm of plant cells. But in
certain cells, the chloroplasts become concentrated around the nucleus or just beneath the plasma
membrane. The chloroplasts have a definite orientation in the cell cytoplasm. Since chloroplasts are motile
organelles, they show passive and active movements.
MORPHOLOGY
Shape. Higher plant chloroplasts are generally biconvex or plano-convex. However, in different plant cells,
chloroplasts may have various shapes, viz., and filamentous, saucer-shaped, spheroid, ovoid, discoid or club-
shaped. They are vesicular and have a colourless centre.
Size. The size of the chloroplasts varies from species to species. The chloroplasts generally measure 2–3μm in
thickness and 5–10μm in diameter
ULTRASTRUCTURE
A chloroplast comprises the following three main components:
1. Envelope: The entire chloroplast is bounded by an envelope which is made of a double unit membranes.
Across this double membrane envelope occurs exchange of molecules between chloroplast and cytosol
(cytoplasmic matrix). Isolated membranes of envelope of chloroplast lack chlorophyll pigment and
cytochromes but have a yellow colour due to the presence of small amounts of carotenoids. They contain only
1 to 2 per cent of the total protein of the chloroplast.
2. Stroma: The matrix or stroma fills most of the volume of the chloroplasts and is a kind of gel-fluid phase that
surrounds the thylakoids (grana). It contains about 50% of the proteins of the chloroplast, most of which are
soluble type. The stroma also contains ribosomes and DNA molecules, both of which are involved in the
synthesis of some of the structural proteins of the chloroplast. The stroma is the place where CO2 fixation
occurs and where the synthesis of sugars, starch, fatty acids and some proteins takes place.
3. Thylakoids: The thylakoids (thylakoid = sac-like) consists of flattened and closed vesicles arranged as a
membranous network. The outer surface of the thylakoid is in contact with the stroma, and its inner surface
encloses an intrathylakoid space (the third compartment). Thylakoids may be stacked like a neat pile of coins,
forming grana or they may be unstacked, intergranal, or stromal thylakoids, forming a system of anastomosing
tubules that are joined to the grana thylakoids
FUNCTIONS OF THE CHLOROPLAST: PHOTOSYNTHESIS
It is well evident now that the process of photosynthesis consists of the following two steps:
1. Light reaction. It is also called Hill reaction, photosynthetic electron transfer reaction or photochemical
reactions. In light reaction solar energy is trapped in the form of chemical energy of ATP and as reducing
power in NADPH. During it, oxygen is evolved by photolysis or splitting of water molecule. Light reaction occurs
in thylakoid membranes.
2. Dark reaction. It is also called Calvin reaction, photosynthetic carbon reduction cycle (PCR cycle), carbon-
fixation reaction or thermo-chemical reaction. In dark reaction, the reducing capacity of NADPH and the
energy of ATP are utilized in the conversion of carbon dioxide to carbohydrate. Such a process of “carbon
fixation” or “CO2-fixation” occurs in the stroma of chloroplast.

Light Reaction
(i) Light absorption by photosynthetic pigment. Einstein suggested in 1905 that light and other
electromagnetic radiations travel in discrete packets called quanta or photons and that when light interacts
with matter it does so by annihilating complete photons, never a part of one. Further, according to Einstein’s
photoelectric theory, it takes one photon to eject one electron. Increasing the intensity of light, or flux of
photons, only increases the number of electrons ejected.

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Photosynthetic units. The basic photosynthetic units seem to be groups of roughly 300 pigment molecules
located in the chloroplast membranes (thylakoid disc). Although all the pigment molecules in the unit
(carotenoids, chlorophyll b, etc.) are capable of capturing light energy, they must transfer it to a single key
chlorophyll a molecule called the reaction centre
Dual pigment systems. Higher plants are found to have two types of photosynthetic units, associated with two
different pigment systems, which absorb light of different wavelengths. Pigment system I or photosystem I (PS
I) units occur in the thylakoid membrane in the form of small and densely packed particles. Each PS I unit
consists of about 200 molecules of chlorophyll a and 50 carotene molecules. The reaction centre (chlorophyll a
molecule) is called P 700 because it has a maximum light absorption at 700 nanometres. Pigment system II or
photosystem II (PS II) units occur in the thylakoid membrane in the form of larger, more widely spaced
particles or ES particles (or quantosomes). Each PS II unit consists of approximately 200 molecules of
chlorophyll a, 200 molecules of carotenols, chlorophyll b, and chlorophyll c or d, depending upon the species.
Its reaction-centre chlorophyll a is designated P 690 or shorter-wavelength trap
(ii) Electron transport systems and oxidation of water. When the P680 of photosystem II acquires a sufficient
quantum of energy, it emits a pair of electrons energy move down an electron transport chain (of thylakoid
membrane) and during this process ATP molecules are formed. Two electrons are passed through an electron
acceptor Q (which is a quinone) to an electron transport chain involving four electron carriers (plastoquinone,
cytochrome- 559, cytochrome-553 or cytochrome f and plastocyanin), before being passed on to PS I. The
electrons are passed through four carriers successively at lower energy levels, so that at each step energy is
released, which is harvested in the production of two ATP molecules (from ADP + Pi). The electron lost by P
680 is ultimately accepted by P700 of photosystem I. P700 (PS I) also captures light, and for absorbing each
photon, it ejects an electron. This electron is replaced by an electron from PS II and this flow of electron
continues as long as the light is available. The electrons liberated from P700 are passed through acceptor x, to
an electron transport chain (ferredoxin, ferredoxin NADP reductase) at successive lower energy levels. Finally
these electrons reach NADP coenzyme, each molecule of which receives an electron, enabling it to pick up an
H+ ion (proton), thus, producing two molecules of NADPH from one molecule of H2O used in PS II.
Dark Reaction
The dark reaction is completed by passing through following three main phases:
(i) Phase 1: Carboxylation:-During this phase of dark reaction, three molecules of carbon dioxide (3C) are
attached to three molecules of ribulose 1, 5, biphosphate (RuBP; this pentose sugar was previously termed
RuDP or ribulose diphosphate; 15C) to produce short- lived six-carbon intermediates. This process is called
carboxylation and is catalysed by the enzyme RuBP carboxylase, carboxydismutase or “Rubisco”. The six
carbon intermediates are immediately broken down into six molecules of PGA or 3- phosphoglyceric acid
(ii) Phase 2: Glycolytic reversal:- By utilizing six ATP molecules, these six molecules of PGA are transformed
into six molecules of 1,3, diphosphoglyceric acid .These in turn get converted into six molecules of
glyceraldehyde-3- phosphate, 3- phosphoglyceraldehyde (PGAL) or 3-phosphoglyceric acid (triose) by utilizing
six NADPH molecules.

(iii) Phase 3: Regeneration of RuBP.:- For the continuous running of Calvin cycle, there must be a regular
supply of ATP and NADPH and also sufficient amount of RuBP. Two turns of Calvin cycle result in the
production of one molecule of glucose.
6 RuBP + 6CO2 + 18 ATP + 12 NADPH ——→ 6RuBP + C6H12O6 + 18ADP + 18Pi + 12 NADP