Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis
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TYPES OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS
This page introduces you to photosynthesis and explains the three types of
photosynthesis and their relevance for desert adaptation.
Concepts:
The three types of photosynthesis are C3, C4, and CAM. C3 photosynthesis is
the typical photosynthesis that most plants use and that everyone learns about in
school (it was all we knew about until a few decades ago). C4 and CAM
photosynthesis are both adaptations to arid conditions because they result in
better water use efficiency. In addition, CAM plants can "idle," saving precious
energy and water during harsh times, and C4 plants can photosynthesize faster
under the desert's high heat and light conditions than C3 plants because they
use an extra biochemical pathway and special anatomy to reduce
photorespiration. Below are the details.
C3 Photosynthesis : C3 plants.
• Called C3 because the CO2 is first incorporated into a 3-carbon
compound.
• Stomata are open during the day.
• RUBISCO, the enzyme involved in photosynthesis, is also the enzyme
involved in the uptake of CO2.
• Photosynthesis takes place throughout the leaf.
• Adaptive Value: more efficient than C4 and CAM plants under cool and
moist conditions and under normal light because requires less machinery
(fewer enzymes and no specialized anatomy)..
• Most plants are C3.
C4 Photosynthesis : C4 plants.
• Called CAM after the plant family in which it was first found
(Crassulaceae) and because the CO2 is stored in the form of an acid
before use in photosynthesis.
• Stomata open at night (when evaporation rates are usually lower) and are
usually closed during the day. The CO2 is converted to an acid and stored
during the night. During the day, the acid is broken down and the CO 2 is
released to RUBISCO for photosynthesis
• Adaptive Value:
o Better Water Use Efficiency than C3 plants under arid conditions
due to opening stomata at night when transpiration rates are lower
(no sunlight, lower temperatures, lower wind speeds, etc.).
o May CAM-idle. When conditions are extremely arid, CAM plants
can just leave their stomata closed night and day. Oxygen given off
in photosynthesis is used for respiration and CO2 given off in
respiration is used for photosynthesis. This is a little like a perpetual
energy machine, but there are costs associated with running the
machinery for respiration and photosynthesis so the plant cannot
CAM-idle forever. But CAM-idling does allow the plant to survive
dry spells, and it allows the plant to recover very quickly when
water is available again (unlike plants that drop their leaves and
twigs and go dormant during dry spells).
• CAM plants include many succulents such as cactuses and agaves and
also some orchids and bromeliads
http://faculty.weber.edu/sharley/2104/photosynthesis.html
1950s: Melvin Calvin and associates: used 14C (available for labeling
experiments after WWII) and 2-D paper chromatography (developed as a
technique in the 1940s) to identify the carbon fixation steps of photosynthesis.
The first stable product to contain the label was PGA. At later stages, the label
appeared in triose-P and then the various sugars of the regeneration steps
(reductive pentose phosphate pathway). They used Chlorella, a unicellular green
alga, as their experimental organism. With Chlorella, they were able to take
small samples at various time intervals and rapidly kill all the cells simultaneously
to stop the reactions.
1965: Kortschack, Hartt, and Burr repeated the experiments done by Calvin’s
group, using sugar cane as the experimental organism. The results indicated
that sugar cane made malate (C4 acid) as the first stable product, not PGA (C3
acid). Soon afterwards, Hatch and Slack confirmed these results and showed
that this form of photosynthesis was found in a number of plants, both monocots
and dicots.