Which reactions takes place during photosynthesis?
Plants are mainly multicellular organisms, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Plants are termed as autotrophs and are the primary producers in almost all of the ecosystems on the earth.
Photosynthesis is the process in which water and carbon dioxide in presence of the sunlight is converted to energy and oxygen.
Photosynthesis occurs in the cell organelle called chloroplast.
Chloroplasts contain the photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll which captures the energy from sunlight, converts it, and stores it in the energy-storage molecules ATP and NADPH, while releasing oxygen to the surrounding environment.
Chloroplasts capture solar energy and store it in which form of chemical energy (sugar molecules that can be used by the cells for metabolic activities).
Chlorophyll molecules are arranged in and around photosystems that are embedded in the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts. The chlorophyll serves three functions:
- The first function of the vast majority of chlorophyll is to absorb light.
- The second function is to transfer the light energy by resonance energy transfer to a specific chlorophyll pair in the reaction center of the photosystems. (The two currently accepted photosystem units are ‘photosystem II’ and ‘photosystem I’, which have their own distinct reaction centers, named P680 and P700, respectively).
- The third function is biosynthesis of energy molecules in the reaction center which is stored in the plant cells for metabolic activities.
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