Chapter 7 Lecture

Photosynthesis:
Using Light to
Make Food

PowerPoint® Lectures created by Edward J. Zalisko for

Campbell Essential Biology, Seventh Edition, and
Campbell Essential Biology with Physiology, Sixth Edition
– Eric J. Simon, Jean L. Dickey, and Jane B. Reece

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Nearly All Life On Earth—including
You—can Trace its Source Of Energy
Back To The Sun

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Biology and Society: A Solar
Revolution
• The electricity that photovoltaic (PV) solar panels
produce from sunlight can be used directly, stored
in batteries, or transferred to the national electric
grid.
• Living organisms that capture sunlight using
photosynthesis can also serve as energy sources.
‒ Plant matter can be burned.
‒ Plant materials can be used to produce biofuels.

• All of these methods of capturing the energy of

sunlight are renewable.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 The Basics of Photosynthesis

• Photosynthesis
‒ is used by plants, algae (protists), and certain
bacteria,
‒ transforms light energy into chemical energy,
‒ uses carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) as
starting materials, and
‒ releases oxygen gas as a by-product.

• The chemical energy produced via photosynthesis

is stored in the bonds of sugar molecules.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 The Basics of Photosynthesis
(Cont.)
• Organisms that generate their own organic matter
from inorganic ingredients are called autotrophs.
• Plants and other organisms that do this by
photosynthesis—photoautotrophs—are the
producers for most ecosystems.
• The fact that nearly all organisms can trace their
source of energy back to the sun clearly illustrates
that the ability to transform energy and matter is
vital to the existence of life on Earth.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 A diversity of photoautotrophs

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Chloroplasts: Sites of
Photosynthesis
• Chloroplasts are
‒ light-absorbing organelles,
‒ the site of photosynthesis, and
‒ found mostly in the interior cells of leaves.

• Their green color is from chlorophyll, a pigment

(light-absorbing molecule) in the chloroplasts that
plays a central role in converting solar energy to
chemical energy.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Chloroplasts: Sites of Photosynthesis
(Cont.)
• Stomata are tiny pores in leaves where carbon
dioxide enters and oxygen exits.
• Membranes within the chloroplast form the
framework where many of the reactions of
photosynthesis occur.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Journey into a leaf

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Journey into a leaf (Cont.)

• Like a mitochondrion, a chloroplast has a double-

membrane envelope.
• The inner membrane encloses a compartment filled
with stroma, a thick fluid.
• Suspended in the stroma are interconnected
membranous sacs called thylakoids.
• The thylakoids are concentrated in stacks called
grana (singular, granum).
• The chlorophyll molecules that capture light energy
are built into the thylakoid membranes.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 An Overview of Photosynthesis

• In the overall equation for photosynthesis, notice

• that the reactants of photosynthesis, carbon dioxide
(CO2) and water (H2O), are the same as the waste
products of cellular respiration, and
• that photosynthesis produces what respiration uses
—glucose (C6H12O6) and oxygen (O2).

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Figure 7.UN03

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 An Overview a of Photosynthesis
(Cont.)
• The overall process of photosynthesis can be
divided into two stages connected by energy-
carrying and electron-carrying molecules:
1. the light reactions in which chlorophyll in the
thylakoid membranes absorbs solar energy, which
is then converted to the chemical energy of ATP
and NADPH, and
2. the Calvin cycle, which uses the products of the
light reactions to power the production of sugar
from carbon dioxide.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 A road map for photosynthesis

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 An Overview of Photosynthesis
(Cont.)
• The initial incorporation of carbon from the
atmosphere into organic compounds is called
carbon fixation. This can help reduce the
concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
• The relationship between photosynthesis, carbon
fixation, and global climate is a good example of
how interactions between biological components at
many different levels affect all life on Earth.
Checkpoint: What molecules are the inputs of
photosynthesis? What molecules are the outputs?

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 The Light Reactions: Converting
Solar Energy to Chemical Energy:
The Nature of Sunlight
• Sunlight, like other forms of radiation, travels through
space as rhythmic waves. The distance between the
crests of two adjacent waves is called a wavelength.
• The full range of radiation is called the
electromagnetic spectrum.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 The electromagnetic spectrum

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Chloroplast Pigments

• The selective absorption of light by leaves explains

why they appear green to us.
‒ Light of that color is poorly absorbed by chloroplasts
and is thus reflected or transmitted toward the
observer.

• Energy cannot be destroyed, so the absorbed

energy must be converted to other forms.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Why are leaves green?

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Chloroplast Pigments

• Chloroplasts contain several different pigments that

absorb light of different wavelengths.
1. Chlorophyll a participates directly in light reactions
and absorbs mainly blue-violet and red light.
2. Chlorophyll b does not participate directly in the
light reactions, but it conveys absorbed energy to
chlorophyll a.

• Chloroplasts also contain a family of yellow-orange

pigments called carotenoids, which absorb mainly
blue-green light.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Photosynthetic pigments

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 How Photosystems Harvest Light
Energy
• Light behaves as waves and discrete packets of
energy called photons, fixed quantities of light
energy. The shorter the wavelength of light, the
greater the energy of a photon.
• When a pigment molecule absorbs a photon, one
of the pigment’s electrons gains energy and is now
said to be “excited.”
‒ An excited electron usually loses its excess energy
and falls back to its ground state.
‒ Most pigments release heat energy as their light-
excited electrons fall back to their ground state.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 How Photosystems Harvest Light
Energy (Cont.)

• Some pigments emit light as well as heat after

absorbing photons.
‒ The fluorescent light emitted by a glow stick is caused by a
chemical reaction that excites electrons of a fluorescent
dye.
‒ The excited electrons quickly fall back down to their ground
state, releasing energy in the form of fluorescent light.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Excited electrons in pigments

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 How Photosystems Harvest Light
Energy
• In the thylakoid membrane, chlorophyll molecules are
organized with other molecules into photosystems.

• Each photosystem has a cluster of a few hundred

pigment molecules, including chlorophylls a and b
and some carotenoids.
• This cluster of pigment molecules functions as a
light-gathering antenna.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 A photosystem: light-gathering
molecules that focus light energy
onto a reaction center

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 How the Light Reactions Generate
ATP
and NADPH
• Two photosystems cooperate in the light
reactions:
1. Photons excite electrons in the chlorophyll of the
first photosystem.
2. Energized electrons from the first photosystem pass
down an electron transport chain to the second
photosystem. The chloroplast uses the energy
released by this electron “fall” to make ATP.
3. The second photosystem transfers its light-excited
electrons to NADP+, reducing it to NADPH.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 The light reactions of photosynthesis

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 How the Light Reactions Generate
ATP
and NADPH (Cont.)
• The light reactions are located in the thylakoid
membrane.
• The two photosystems and the electron transport
chain that connects them transfer electrons from
H2O to NADP+, producing NADPH.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 How the thylakoid membrane
converts light energy to the chemical
energy of NADPH and ATP.

Checkpoint: Why is water required as a reactant in

photosynthesis?
© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
 The light reactions illustrated using
a
hard-hat analogy

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 How the Light Reactions Generate
ATP
and NADPH (Cont.)
• The mechanism of ATP production during the light
reactions is very similar to the mechanism we saw in
cellular respiration. In both cases,
‒ an electron transport chain pumps hydrogen ions across a
membrane and
‒ ATP synthases use the energy stored by the H + gradient to
make ATP.

• The main difference is that food provides the high-

energy electrons in cellular respiration, whereas
light-excited electrons flow down the transport chain
during photosynthesis.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 The Calvin Cycle: Making Sugar
from Carbon Dioxide

• The Calvin cycle functions like a sugar factory within

a chloroplast.
• The Calvin cycle constructs an energy-rich sugar
molecule called glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (G3P)
using carbon from CO2, energy from ATP, and high-
energy electrons from NADPH.
• The plant cell can then use G3P as the raw material
to make glucose and other organic compounds.

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.

 The Calvin cycle

© 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.