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Photosynthesis

From Bioblast


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Photosynthesis

Description

Photosynthesis is the process used by plants and other organisms that converts the light (mostly solar) energy into chemical energy which is subsequently released to fuels organisms’s activities. It has two phases: the light-dependent phase and the light-independent (dark) phase. In plants, algae and cynobacteria, during the light-dependent phase, the light energy is absorbed by the pigment called Chlorophyll and used to split water and generate short-term storages of chemical energy, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and reductant power, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), with the net production of oxygen gas as a waste product. And during the light-independent phase these chemical energy and reductant power are used to synthesize organic matter from the atmospheric CO2 in the form of carbohydrates or sugars through a metabolic pathway called Calvin cycle. The whole process is what is called oxygenic photosynthesis and it is the most common one used by living organisms, being responsible of producing and maintaining the oxygen concentration of the Earth’s atmosphere. While in bacteria such as the cyanobacteria the photosynthesis involves the plasma membrane and the cytoplasm, in Eukaryotic cells (plants and algae) the photosynthesis takes place inside organelles called chloroplasts.

Abbreviation: PS

Reference:

Photosynthesis as part of PhotoBiology in the context of the NextGen-O2k project

In the NextGen-O2k project we are working on developing the PB-Module for the new series of our O2k-Respirometer, the NextGen-O2k. Similar to our current [O2k-Smart Fluo-Module], the PB-Module will provide with an external source of light, in the range of the Blue or Red wavelenghts, allowing to carry out experiments evaluating the production/consumption of O2 in the presence of light.

Communicated by Huete-Ortega M 2020-05-29