Overview of Photosynthesis
The main pigment involved in photosynthesis.
What is chlorophyll?
These reactions convert solar energy to chemical energy.
What are the light reactions?
The Calvin cycle is also known as this.
What is the dark reaction or light-independent reaction?
The specific reactant molecule that an enzyme acts upon.
What is the substrate?
The type of photosynthesis that minimizes photorespiration by fixing CO2 into four-carbon compounds.
What is C4 photosynthesis?
The organelle where photosynthesis takes place in plants.
What is the chloroplast?
The process where electrons lose energy as they move through the thylakoid membrane, which is used to pump H+ ions.
What is the Electron Transport Chain?
The specific location within the chloroplast where the light-independent reactions, or Calvin Cycle, take place.
What is the stroma?
The region on the enzyme where the substrate binds, often described as part of the "lock-and-key" or "induced fit" models.
What is the active site?
Plants that fix CO2 into organic acids at night and release it for use in the Calvin cycle during the day.
What are CAM plants?
The light-dependent reactions occur in these coin-shaped sacs inside the chloroplast.
What are thylakoids (or thylakoid membranes)?
The molecule that acts as the final electron acceptor in the light reactions.
What is NADP+?
The enzyme that catalyzes the fixation of CO2 in the Calvin cycle.
What is Rubisco?
A non-protein helper molecule, such as a vitamin, that is required for a certain enzyme to be catalytically active.
What is a cofactor (or coenzyme)?
The process by which O2 competes with CO2 and attaches to RuBP.
What is photorespiration?
A plant is this type of organism because it produces its own food from inorganic sources.
What is an autotroph?
The two main photosystems involved in non-cyclic photophosphorylation, identified by the wavelength of light they best absorb.
What are Photosystem II (P680) and Photosystem I (P700)?
The molecule regenerated in the Calvin cycle that allows the cycle to continue.
What is ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP)?
A non-substrate molecule that binds to the active site, blocking the substrate and reducing enzyme activity.
What is a competitive inhibitor?
CAM plants, like cacti, keep these leaf pores closed during the day to conserve water.
What are stomata?
The two main energy-carrying molecules produced during the light-dependent reactions that power the Calvin Cycle.
What are ATP and NADPH?
The name of the process that splits water to replace the electrons lost by Photosystem II.
What is photolysis?
The number of CO2 molecules needed to produce one molecule of glucose in the Calvin cycle.
What is 6?
A type of inhibitor that binds to a site other than the active site, changing the enzyme's shape and reducing its catalytic ability.
What is a noncompetitive inhibitor?
An example of a CAM plant.
What is a cactus?