Download Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis
How plants eat light and build trees from thin air
You will be able to:
 Explain how plants “eat” light
 Explain how plants create biomass from thin air
 Explain why Miracle Gro (and other bands) of Plant Food is not food, and
what it really is.
 Define the following terms: photosynthesis, autotroph, photoautotroph,
chemoautotroph, producer, mesophyll, stomata, chloroplast, stroma,
thylakoid, thylakoid membrane, grana, redox reaction, reduction,
oxidation, light reactions, Calvin cycle, electromagnetic radiation,
wavelength, frequency, photon, pigment, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b,
carotenoids, photosystem, reaction center, fluorescence, chemiosmosis,
photophosphorylation, carbon fixation, RuBisCO, C3 metabolism,
photorespiration, C4 metabolism, crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM),
 Describe the nature of light—you can see it, but what is it?
 Explain the relationship between color, wavelength, frequency and
amount of energy in light
 Explain how plants capture photons of light in the reaction center of
photosystem I and II.
 Explain how antenna pigments funnel light energy to the reaction center
of photosystem I and II
 Explain how the electron transport chain on the thylakoid membrane
creates a chemiosmotic potential across the membrane.
 Explain how the splitting of water by photosystem I fills the electron hole in
the reaction center and contributes to the chemisosmotic potential
across the membrane.
 Identify the initial electron donor and final electron acceptor in the light
reactions of photosynthesis.
 Explain how the creation of NADPH contributes to the chemiosmotic
potential.
 Explain how the structure of the ATP synthase relates to its function.
 Differentiate between noncyclic and cyclic photophosphorylation
 Describe the two reactions catalyzed by RuBisCO
 List the 3 major parts of the Calvin cycle
 Identify the energy molecules required to fix one atom of carbon.
 Compare the amount of energy required to fix an atom of carbon to the
amount of energy harvested by respiration when releasing an atom of
carbon
 Explain why it is technically incorrect to describe glucose as the end
product of photosynthesis and identify the actual end products
 Demonstrate the interconnectedness of the light reactions and the Calvin
cycle with each other and with glycolysis and respiration.
 Describe photorespiration and explain why it is a wasteful process
 Explain how photorespiration relates to the evolutionary history of the
atmosphere and the enzyme RuBisCO
 Describe the major pollution event that followed the evolution of
photosynthetic organisms
 Explain how the ozone layer formed
 Describe the C4 pathway and explain how it is an adaptation to high
oxygen conditions
 Describe the CAM pathway and explain how it is an adaptation to hot,
dry environments
 Explain the interaction between photosynthesis and global carbon
dioxide levels.
 Design an experiment to test the effect of environmental variables of your
choice on the rate of photosynthesis
 Use paper chromatography to separate plant pigments
Respiration, Glycolysis & Fermentation
Catabolism
You will be able to:
 Describe the reactants and products in Glycolysis, Fermentation, Pyruvate
oxidation, the Krebs cycle, the mitochondrial electron transport chain,
chemiosmotic phosphorylation and fatty acid metabolism
 Differentiate between alcholic and lactic acid fermentation
 Explain the function of fermenation
 Explain why the electron transport chain and the Krebs cycle cannot work
without oxygen.
 Describe the endosymbiotic theory.
 Compare the amount of energy harvested by glycolysis , oxidative
respiration and fat metabolism
 Identify the cellular compartment that each metabolic pathway takes
place in.
 Explain the importance of compartmentation in metabolism
 Compare the evolutionary relationships among the different metabolic
pathways
Membranes are important structural features of cells.
(a) Describe how membrane structure is related to the
transport of material across a membrane.
(b) Describe the role of membranes in the synthesis of
ATP in either cellular respiration or photosynthesis.
Energy transfer occurs in all cellular activities. For 3 of
the following 5 processes involving energy transfer,
explain how each functions in the cell and give an example.
Explain how ATP is involved in each example you choose.
Cellular movement
Active transport
Synthesis of molecules
Chemiosmosis
Fermentation
Describe the light reactions of photosynthesis and, for
both a C3 and a C4 plant, trace the path of a carbon
dioxide molecule from the point at which it enters a plant
to its incorporation into a glucose molecule. Include leaf
anatomy and biochemical pathways in your discussion of each
type of plant.
Describe the similarities and differences between the
biochemical pathways of aerobic respiration and
photosynthesis in eukaryotic cells. Include in your
discussion the major reactions, the end products, and
energy transfers.