BIOENERGETICS

CAPTURING THE ENERGY OF LIFE

• Energy is the ability to do work
• Work for a cell includes growth & repair, active
transport across cell membranes,
reproduction, synthesis of cellular products,
etc.
• Work is the ability to change or move matter
against other forces (W = F x D)
• Autotrophs or producers convert sunlight, CO2,
and H2O into glucose (their food)
• Plants, algae, and blue-green bacteria, some
prokaryotes, are producers or autotrophs
• Only 10% of the Earth’s 40 million species are
autotrophs
• Other autotrophs use inorganic compounds
instead of sunlight to make food; process
known as chemosynthesis
• Producers make food for themselves and
heterotrophs or consumers that cannot make
food for themselves
TRANSVERSE SECTION OF A DICOT LEAF
BIOCHEMICAL PATHWAYS
• Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are
biochemical pathways
• Biochemical pathways are a series of reactions
where the product of one reaction is the
reactant of the next
• Only autotrophs are capable of photosynthesis
• Both autotrophs & heterotrophs perform
cellular respiration to release energy to do
work
• In photosynthesis, CO2(carbon dioxide) and
H2O (water) are combined to form C6H12O6
(glucose) & O2 (oxygen)
6CO2 + 6H2O + energy --> 6O2 +
C6H12O6

• In cellular respiration, O2 (oxygen) is used to

burn C6H12O6 (glucose) & release CO2(carbon
dioxide), H2O (water), and energy
• Usable energy released in cellular respiration
The chloroplast as we know is found in plant cells. It contains
the pigment chlorophyll which is necessary for
photosynthesis.

For your CAPE examinations, students are required to be able

to draw and annotate this particular organelle. In any text
book for example the Biological Sciences you can get some
annotations and even a very simplified diagram that you can
practice to draw it from.

The ...chloroplast is found plentifully in the palisade layer and

there is some in the spongy layer. There is also some in the
guard cells.
LIGHT ABSORPTION IN CHLOROPLASTS
• Chloroplasts in plant & algal cells absorb
light energy from the sun during the light
dependent reactions
• Photosynthetic cells may have thousands
of chloroplasts
• Chloroplasts are double membrane
organelles with the an inner membrane
folded into disc-shaped sacs called
thylakoids
• Thylakoids, containing chlorophyll and
other accessory pigments, are in stacks
called granum (grana, plural)
• Grana are connected to each other &
surrounded by a gel-like material called
stroma
• Light-capturing pigments in the grana
are organized into photosystems
The chloroplast consists of the stroma, which is gel like
and bathes the granum or stacks of thylakoids. The
stroma is the site of the light independent reactions. It
surrounds the granum to receive the products of the
light dependent reactions (ATP AND NADPH which is
used in the Calvin Cycle)

The thylakoids stack one on top the other resembling a

pile of coins and is now called granum. The thylakoids
are fluid filled sacs. They house the pigment molecules
that is necessary to absorb light. It is here the
photosystems are found. The granum are linked by
lamellae making it a continuous system. As can be
concluded it is the site of the light dependent reaction.
PIGMENTS IN THE CHLOROPLASTS
• Thylakoids contain a variety of pigments ( green red,
orange, yellow...)
• Chlorophyll (C55H70MgN4O6) is the most common
pigment in plants & algae
• Chlorophyll a & chlorophyll b are the 2 most common
types of chlorophyll in autotrophs
• Chlorophyll absorbs only red, blue, & violet light
• Chlorophyll b absorbs colors or light energy NOT
absorbed by chlorophyll a
• The light energy absorbed by chlorophyll b is
transferred to chlorophyll a in the light reactions
Other key features of the structure
of the chlorophyll is that is consists
of a double membrane envelope
that is it has a inner and outer
membrane similar to the
mitochondria. It has ribsomes,
starch grains and plastidial DNA.
• Sunlight or white light is made of
different wavelengths or colors carrying
different amounts of energy
• A prism separates white light into 7
colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue,
indigo, & violet) ROY G. BIV
• These colors are called the visible
spectrum
PIGMENTS
• Light travels as waves & packets called
photons
• Wavelength of light is the distance between 2
consecutive peaks or troughs
• When light strikes an object, it is absorbed,
transmitted, or reflected
• When all colors are absorbed, the object
appears black
• When all colors are reflected, the object
appears white
• If only one color is reflected (green), the
object appears that color (e.g. Chlorophyll)
ABSORPTION SPECTRA
• An absorption spectra is a visual representation of how well a
particular pigment absorbs different wavelengths of visible
light. Absorption spectra of various chloroplast pigments help
scientists decipher each pigment’s role in a plant.
• Carotenoids are accessory pigments in the thylakoids
& include yellow, orange, & red
INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOSYNTHESIS
• Plants are called photoautotrophs. They have an inorganic
source of carbon which is carbon dioxide.
• Animals are called chemoheterotrophs and their source of
carbon is organic.
• Energy is needed for many different reasons by organisms.
• Energy is made available in the bodies of living organisms
through the molecule ATP (adenosine triphosphate)
• Energy is used to add a phosphate to ADP and energy is
released upon the removal of that phosphate from ATP to
form ADP.
OVERVIEW OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS
• Photosynthesis is not a simple one step
reaction but a biochemical pathway involving
many steps
• This complex reaction can be broken down
into two reaction systems --- light dependent
& light independent or dark reactions
LIGHT REACTION:

• Water is split, giving off oxygen.

• This system depends on sunlight for
activation energy.
• Light is absorbed by chlorophyll a which
"excites" the electrons in the chlorophyll
molecule.
• Electrons are passed through a series of
carriers and adenosine triphosphate or ATP
(energy) is produced.
• Takes place in the thylakoids.
DARK REACTION:
• Carbon dioxide is split, providing
carbon to make sugars.
• The ultimate product is glucose.
• While this system depends on the
products from the light reactions, it
does not directly require light energy.
• Includes the Calvin Cycle.
• Takes place in the stroma.
• ATP is known as the universal energy carrier and is thus
found in all living cells.
HERE IS A SUMMARY OF THE REACTIONS AND
PRODUCTS FORMED IN THE CHLOROPLAST
CALVIN CYCLE
• Carbon atoms from CO2 are bonded or "fixed" into
organic compounds during a process called carbon
fixation
• The energy stored in ATP and NADPH during the Light
Reactions is used in the Calvin cycle
• The Calvin cycle has 3 main steps occurring within the
stroma of the Chloroplast
STEP 1

• CO2 diffuses into the stroma from

surrounding cytosol
• An enzyme combines a CO2 molecule with
a five-carbon carbohydrate called RuBP
• The six-carbon molecule produced then
splits immediately into a pair of three-
carbon molecules known as PGA
STEP 2

• Each PGA molecule receives a phosphate

group from a molecule of ATP
• This compound then receives a proton
from NADPH and releases a phosphate
group producing PGAL
• These reactions produce ADP, NADP+,
and phosphate which are used again in
the Light Reactions.
STEP 3
• Most PGAL is converted back to RuBP to keep
the Calvin cycle going
• Some PGAL leaves the Calvin Cycle and is used
to make other organic compounds including
amino acids, lipids, and carbohydrates
• PGAL serves as the starting material for the
synthesis of glucose and fructose
• Glucose and fructose make the disaccharide
sucrose, which travels in solution to other parts
• Each turn of the Calvin cycle fixes One
CO2 molecule so Glucose is also the
monomer used in the synthesis of the
polysaccharides starch and cellulose
• it takes six turns to make one molecule
of glucose
PHOTOSYSTEMS & ELECTRON
TRANSPORT CHAIN
• Only 1 in 250 chlorophyll molecules (chlorophyll a)
actually converts light energy into usable energy
• These molecules are called reaction-center chlorophyll
• The other molecules (chlorophyll b, c, & d and
carotenoids) absorb light energy and deliver it to the
reaction-center molecule
• These chlorophyll molecules are known as antenna
pigments
• A unit of several hundred antenna pigment molecules
plus a reaction center is called a photosynthetic unit or
photosystem
• There are 2 types of photosystems --- Photosystem I &
Photosystem II
• Light is absorbed by the antenna pigments of
photosystems II and I
• The absorbed energy is transferred to the reaction
center pigment, P680 in photosystem II, P700 in
photosystem I
• P680 in Photosystem II loses an electron and becomes
positively charged so it can now split water & release
electrons
• (2H2O 4H+ + 4e- + O2)
• Electrons from water are transferred to the
cytochrome complex of Photosystem I
• These excited electrons activate P700 in
photosystem I which helps reduce NADP+ to
NADPH
• NADPH is used in the Calvin cycle
• Electrons from Photosystem II replace the
CHEMIOSMOSIS (KEM-EE-AHZ-MOH-
SUHS)
• Synthesis or making of ATP (energy)
• Depends on the concentration gradient of
protons ( H+) across the thylakoid membrane
• Protons (H+) are produced from the splitting
of water in Photosystem II
• Concentration of Protons is HIGHER in the
thylakoid than in the stroma
• Enzyme, ATP synthetase in the thylakoid
membrane, makes ATP by adding a phosphate
group to ADP
ALTERNATE PATHWAYS
• The Calvin cycle is the most common pathway
used by autotrophs called C3 Plants
• Plants in hot, dry climates use alternate pathways
to fix carbon & then transfer it to the Calvin cycle
• Stomata are small openings on the underside of
leaves for gas exchange (O2 & CO2)
• Guard cells on each side of the stoma help open &
close the stomata
• Plants also lose H2O through stoma so they are
closed during the hottest part of the day
• C4 plants fix CO2 into 4-Carbon Compounds
during the hottest part of the day when their
stomata are partially closed
• C4 plants include corn, sugar cane and crabgrass
• CAM plants include cactus & pineapples
• CAM plants open their stomata at night and
close during the day so CO2 is fixed at night

• During the day, the CO2 is released from these

compounds and enters the Calvin Cycle
FACTORS DETERMINING THE RATE OF
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
• Light intensity - As light intensity increases, the
rate of photosynthesis initially increases and
then levels off to a plateau
• Temperature - Only the dark, not the light
reactions are temperature dependent because
of the enzymes they use (25 oC to 37oC)
• Length of day
• Increasing the amount of carbon dioxide
available improves the photosynthesis rate
• Level of air pollution