Department of Biology

PHOTOSYNTHESIS
IN HIGHER PLANTS
Chapter 13
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, pupils should be able to:

1 2 3

Explain the process List the three List the products

of photosynthesis components of photosynthesis
necessary for
photosynthesis to
take place
WHAT IS PHOTOSYNTHESIS?
 PHOTOSYNTHESIS
Photosynthesis is a process by which plants create their own food by
using sunlight. This process was first seen more than 3.4 billion years
ago in organisms that were similar to bacteria. Evidence showed that
they did not absorb visible light, instead, they used near-infrared and
produced sulphur or sulphate compounds. It would be another 470
million years until the first land plants emerged.
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY
EXPERIMENT
• He enclosed a mouse within a bell jar and after a while, the mouse apparently died.
• He replicated the same experiment with a burning candle and eventually, the flame was extinguished.
• But when the repeated the above experiment with a mint plant, the mouse survived and the flame
sustained.
• This outcome led Priestley to conclude that plants contribute to the production of oxygen.
• By the middle of the nineteenth century the key features of plant photosynthesis were
known, namely, that plants could use light energy to make carbohydrates from CO2 and
water. The empirical equation representing the total process of photosynthesis for oxygen
evolving organisms was then understood as:

• Photosynthesis is essentially a light-dependent reaction in which hydrogen from a suitable

oxidisable compound reduces carbon dioxide to carbohydrates. This can be expressed by:
• This was later proved by using radioisotopic techniques. The correct equation, that would
represent the overall process of photosynthesis is therefore:

• Where C6 H12 O6 represents glucose. The O2 released is from water; this was proved using
radio isotope techniques. Note that this is not a single reaction but description of a multistep
process called photosynthesis.
WHERE DOES PHOTOSYNTHESIS
TAKE PLACE?
• Essentially, this process takes place inside a plant cell organelle called the chloroplast.
• These organelles are found in the mesophyll layer, which is basically two layers of cells present inside the
leaves of the plant.
• Chloroplasts orient themselves through the walls of the mesophyll cells so as to garner most of the light
incident on it.
• The membranous system in the chloroplast consisting of grana, the matrix stroma and stroma lamellae exhibit
division of labour.
• The system is in charge to trap light energy, also for the ATP and NADPH synthesis, with the conduction of
light reactions and dark reactions.
HOW MANY TYPES OF PIGMENTS
ARE INVOLVED IN
PHOTOSYNTHESIS?
• A chromatographic separation of the leaf pigments shows that the colour that we
see in leaves is not due to a single pigment but due to four pigments:

• Chlorophyll a (bright or blue green in the chromatogram)

• Chlorophyll b (yellow green)
• Xanthophylls (yellow)
• Carotenoids (yellow to yellow-orange).

• Pigments are substances that have an ability to absorb light, at specific

wavelengths.
• We can conclude that chlorophyll a is the chief pigment associated with
photosynthesis.
• Though chlorophyll is the major pigment responsible for trapping light, other
thylakoid pigments like chlorophyll b, xanthophylls and carotenoids, which are
called accessory pigments, also absorb light and transfer the energy to
chlorophyll a.
• Indeed, they not only enable a wider range of wavelength of incoming light to be
utilised for photosyntesis but also protect chlorophyll a from photo-oxidation.
LIGHT REACTION
• Absorption of light, splitting of water, releasing
oxygen, and creating highenergy chemicals such as
ATP and NADPH are all part of the process.
• Several complexes, namely Light-harvesting
complexes (LHC) with pigments in Photosystem-1
(PSI) and Photosystem-2 (PSII), are named in the
order of their discovery.
• Each photosystem, with the exception of
chlorophyll a, contains all of the pigments and
constitutes an LHS known as antennae.
• The reaction centre is formed by a single molecule
of chlorophyll-a.
• PSI has a maximum absorption at 700 nm, thus is
also known as P700 whereas PSII has a maximum
absorption at 680 nm, which is known as P680.
ELECTRON TRANSPORT
• Chlorophyll in photosystem II absorbs the red light
wavelength causing electrons to excite and jump
into an orbit away from the atomic nucleus
• Thereafter the electrons are picked up by electron
acceptor passing them to electrons transport system
comprising cytochromes where electron movement
is downhill(redox potential scale)
• The electrons are not used but passed on pigments
of photosystem PS I of the chain. Parallelly, PS I
electrons in reaction centres are excited upon
receiving red light wavelength transferring to
another receptor molecule having greater redox
potential through the Z scheme(characteristic shape)
formed when all carriers are arranged in a sequence
of a redox potential scale.
SPLITTING OF WATER
• The splitting of H2O replaces the electrons which were transferred from
Photosystem-2. This produces oxygen, a byproduct of photosynthesis.
• PSII is associated with this splitting of H2O. It provides the electrons
required to replace those eliminated from PSI.
CYCLIC AND NON-CYCLIC
PHOTOPHOSPHORYLATION
• Photophosphorylation is the formation of ATP in the presence of
sunlight and is of two types – Cyclic and Non-cyclic
Photophosphorylation.
• Cyclic Photophosphorylation – Here only PS-I is involved. Here
the electrons circulate inside the photosystem resulting in a cyclic
electron flow resulting in the formation of ATP alone.
• Non-cyclic Photophosphorylation:
• PS-II absorbs light at a wavelength of 680 nm and causing
excitation of electrons which are accepted by an electron acceptor
and transferred to the electron transport system. These are then
transferred to the PS-I. Simultaneously, the electrons at PS-I
receive a wavelength of 700 nm and get excited.
• An electron from the electron acceptor is added to NADP+,
which is then reduced to NADPH+ H+.
• The electrons lost by PS-II do not return to it and therefore
referred to as non-cyclic photophosphorylation.
• In this, both the photosystems were involved.
CHEMIOSMOSIS
HYPOTHESIS
• The ATP synthase enzyme is composed of two parts: F0
and F1.
• F0, which is presented into the thylakoid layer and creates
a transmembrane channel that enables protons to easily
diffuse across the layer.
• F1 is the other half, which is situated on the stroma-facing
side of the thylakoid external surface of the membrane.
• The gradient's breakdown offers enough energy to cause a
conformational shift in the F1 moiety of the ATP synthase,
allowing the enzyme to synthesise multiple molecules of
ATP.
• Chemiosmosis requires a membrane, a proton pump, a
proton angle, and ATP synthase.
• To create a gradient or a larger proportion of protons inside
the thylakoid lumen, energy is used to pump protons across
a membrane.
• ATP synthase contains a channel that allows protons to be
released back across the membrane, releasing enough
energy to activate the ATP synthase chemical, which
catalyses the formation of ATP.
• Along with the NADPH produced by electron
development.
WHERE ARE THE ATP
AND NADPH USED?
• These are used in a dark reaction known as the biosynthetic phase of
photosynthesis, where food is synthesised.
• There are two pathways for the Dark reaction:

1. C3 pathway or Calvin cycle

2. C4 pathway or Hatch-Slack pathway

• In the C3 pathway, the first stable product of the carbon fixation is a

threecarbon molecule like PGA (Phosphoglyceric acid) whereas, in
the C4 pathway, it is a four-carbon molecule like OAA
(Oxaloacetate).
CALVIN CYCLE
• Calvin Pathway occurs in all photosynthetic plants.
It can be described in the following three stages –
• Carboxylation – it is the fixing of carbon dioxide
into a stable organic intermediate. This is catalyzed
by enzyme – RuBP carboxylase resulting in the
formation of two molecules of 3-PGA. It is
referred to as RuBP carboxylase-
oxygenase(RuBisCO) as it also has oxygenation
activity
• Reduction – Sequence of reactions leading to the
formation of glucose
• Regeneration – For the uninterrupted continuation
of the cycle, the carbon dioxide acceptor molecule
RuBP must be regenerated which requires one ATP
molecule for RuBP formation
HATCH-SLACK
PATHWAY
• The mesophyll cells and vascular bundles are the two types of cells found in
the C4 plants.
• Bundle sheath cells are large cells that surround vascular bundles, and the
leaves of these plants have kranz anatomy.
• Bundle sheath cells can have multiple layers of chloroplasts and are resistant
to gaseous exchange.
• The mesophyll cells contain the three-carbon molecule called
phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), which serves as the primary carbon dioxide
acceptor.
• The enzyme in charge is PEP carboxylase or PEP case, where the RuBisCO
enzyme is missing.
• C4 acid OAA is formed here, which is then transferred to bundle sheath cells
where C4 acids are split to release carbon dioxide and a three-carbon
molecule.
• It is then shipped to mesophyll, where it constructs PEP once more,
completing the cycle.
• The carbon dioxide produced in the bundle sheath cells reaches the C3 Calvin
pathway, which is shared by all plants, C3 or C4.
• The enzyme RuBisCO is abundant in the bundle sheath cells, but PEPcase is
lacking. Carbon dioxide gas concentration rises as bundle sheath cells become
impermeable to it.
PHOTORESPIRATION
• RuBisCO, the most abundant enzyme on the planet, is distinguished by its ability to
bind both O2 and CO2.
• Some O2 binds with RuBisCO in C3 plants, leading to the formation of
phosphoglycerate and phosphoglycolate via a pathway known as photorespiration.
• Because there is no production of sugar or ATP/NADPH in this pathway, it is referred
to as a wasteful process.
• Photorespiration does not occur in C4 plants, so they are more productive
FACTORS INFLUENCING
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
• The photosynthesis rate is affected by both internal and external factors.
• Internal factors such as the number, size, age, alignment of leaves, chloroplasts, and so on,
as well as external factors such as CO2 concentration, temperature, water, and so on.
• When many factors affect any biological process, Blackman's (1905) Law of Limiting
Factors comes into play, which states that if a chemical process is affected by more than
one factor, the rate will be determined by the factor that is nearest to its minimal value,
which is known as the Limiting factor.
• If the amount is changed, the figure identifies the exact method.
• The various factors are:

• Light
• Carbon dioxide concentration
• Temperature
• Water
1. Light
• Light is being used as 10% of the
incident sunlight.
• It is directly proportional to CO2
fixation at low intensities. Other
factors become confining as the
intensity increases.
• Excessive light causes the
breakdown of chlorophyll,
resulting in a decrease in
photosynthesis.
2. Concentration of carbon dioxide
• As carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere are very low, ranging from
0.03 to 0.04 percent, an increase in concentration of up to 0.05 percent can cause
an increase in photosynthesis rate.
3. Temperature
• Because the dark reactions are enzymatic, they are temperature controlled.
• C4 plants react to higher temperatures and have higher photosynthesis rates,
whereas C3 plants have a lower temperature optimum.
4. Water
• Water stress leads to closing of stomata, reducing carbon dioxide accessibility,
and causes leaves to wilt, thus reducing the surface area.
THANK YOU!
I hope you learn something new today!