The Chloroplast and Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis
What are oxygenic phototrophs and how have they determined the course of evolution of life on earth?

What are the two major processes of photosynthesis?

Chloroplasts
What is the relationship between proplastids, plastids and chloroplasts? What do we know about the size, shape and numbers of these organelles in cells?

Chloroplasts

Chloroplasts
What are some of the structural features of chloroplasts?

Endosymbiotic Hypothesis
What led to the formulation of this hypothesis?

Energy Transduction
What is the nature of light?
Is it a wave? Is it a particle?

How is the energy of a photon of light related to its wavelength?

Energy Transduction

Energy Transduction
What is involved in photoexcitation? What may happen when a molecule absorbs a photon of light?

Energy Transduction
What is the function of the various photosynthetic pigments? Where are these pigments located?

Energy Transduction
What are some of the important aspects about the structure of chlorophyll?

Energy Transduction
How many different forms of chlorophyll exist and where are they found?

What are the accessory pigments?

Energy Transduction
How are photosystems organized? What is the difference between a light harvesting complex and a photosystem?

Energy Transduction
What led Emerson to propose that two separate photoreactions are involved in the light-dependent phase of photosynthesis?

Energy Transduction
How do the two photosystems work together to carry out the light dependent reactions?

Energy Transduction - PSII

How does the energy reaching the reaction center of PSII affect the chlorophyll a molecules?

Energy Transduction PSI

What is the role of PSI?

Energy Transduction
How is ATP formed in the chloroplast?

Energy Transduction

Energy Transduction
What is cyclic photophosphorylation?

Energy Transduction
How are photosynthetic complexes distributed in thylakoid membrane?

The Calvin Cycle

The Calvin Cycle

What facilitates the initial fixation of carbon dioxide? What is the product immediately formed?

The Calvin Cycle

How are the NADPH and ATP used in this cycle? How is ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate regenerated to continue the cycle?

The Calvin Cycle

How is this cycle regulated?

Carbohydrate Synthesis
Why is very little glucose produced as a result of the Calvin cycle?

Photorespiration
What is photorespiration? What can the plant do with phosphoglycolate?

Photorespiration
How else do plants minimize photorespiration?

C3 and C4 Plant Anatomy

How are these plants different structurally?