Photosynthesis
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Photosynthesis is the biological process by which plants, algae, and certain bacteria convert light energy into chemical energy stored in organic compounds.
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Oxygenic photosynthesis uses water to produce carbohydrates.
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Oxygenic photosynthesis releases molecular oxygen as a by-product.
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Photosynthesis is the primary source of organic carbon for most ecosystems.
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Photosynthesis is the primary source of the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere.
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The overall equation for oxygenic photosynthesis is commonly written 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + light → C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂.
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In plants, photosynthesis occurs in chloroplasts.
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The light reactions of photosynthesis take place in the thylakoid membranes.
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Carbon fixation in photosynthesis takes place in the stroma.
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The light reactions use two photosystems (PSII and PSI) linked in series.
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The series linkage of photosystems II and I is described by the Z-scheme.
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The Z-scheme was proposed by Hill and Bendall.
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The oxygen released in photosynthesis derives from water, not carbon dioxide.
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The derivation of released oxygen from water in photosynthesis was shown by ¹⁸O isotope labeling.
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Isolated chloroplasts evolve oxygen in the presence of an artificial electron acceptor without CO₂.
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Water oxidation is catalyzed by a Mn₄CaO₅ cluster in photosystem II.
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The Mn₄CaO₅ cluster in photosystem II was resolved at 1.9 Å.
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ATP synthesis in chloroplasts is driven by a proton gradient across the thylakoid membrane.
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The mechanism of ATP synthesis in chloroplasts is consistent with Mitchell's chemiosmotic hypothesis.
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Carbon fixation proceeds through the Calvin–Benson cycle.
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The Calvin–Benson cycle was elucidated using ¹⁴C tracing.
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Melvin Calvin received the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work elucidating carbon fixation.
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The enzyme Rubisco catalyzes the carboxylation of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate.
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The enzyme Rubisco catalyzes an oxygenation reaction leading to photorespiration.
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C₄ plants concentrate CO₂ around Rubisco.
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C₄ plants concentrate CO₂ via an initial fixation into four-carbon acids.
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CAM plants fix CO₂ at night into organic acids.
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CAM plants decarboxylate organic acids by day to reduce water loss.
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Chlorophyll a absorbs most strongly in the blue region of the visible spectrum.
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Accessory pigments, such as chlorophyll b, broaden the absorbed range of the visible spectrum.
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Anoxygenic photosynthesis is carried out by purple bacteria.
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Anoxygenic photosynthesis uses electron donors such as H₂S instead of water.
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Anoxygenic photosynthesis does not release oxygen.
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Chloroplasts originated from an endosymbiotic cyanobacterium.
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Global net primary production is estimated at about 105 petagrams of carbon per year.
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Global net primary production is split roughly equally between land and ocean.
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Atmospheric oxygen rose substantially around 2.4–2.3 billion years ago during the Great Oxidation Event.
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The rise in atmospheric oxygen during the Great Oxidation Event is attributed to cyanobacterial oxygenic photosynthesis.
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The theoretical maximum efficiency of converting solar energy to biomass is estimated at about 4.6% for C₃ plants.
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Field efficiencies of converting solar energy to biomass are typically much lower than theoretical maximums.
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Priestley demonstrated in the 1770s that plants 'restore' air.
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Ingenhousz found in 1779 that plants 'restoring' air requires light.
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The timing of the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis is disputed.
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Estimates for the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis range from shortly before the Great Oxidation Event to 3.0 Ga or more.
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Estimates for the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis depend on the interpretation of geochemical proxies and molecular clocks.
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Earlier biomarker evidence for oxygenic photosynthesis at 2.7 Ga was later attributed to contamination.
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The functional role of quantum coherence in light harvesting is disputed.
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Long-lived coherences reported in 2007 were proposed to aid energy transfer in light harvesting.
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Analyses subsequent to 2007 argue that quantum coherence signals in light harvesting are largely vibrational and not functionally significant.
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The evolutionary order of the two reaction-centre types remains unresolved.
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Photosynthetic organisms utilize sunlight to synthesize carbohydrate molecules like glucose.
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Photosynthetic organisms release oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis.
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Photosynthesis forms the energetic foundation for nearly all terrestrial ecosystems.
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Photosynthesis has profoundly shaped the Earth's atmosphere.
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The net balanced chemical equation for oxygenic photosynthesis is 6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2.
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In plants, photosynthesis takes place primarily within chloroplasts.
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Chloroplasts are specialized organelles.
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In plants, chloroplasts are concentrated in the mesophyll cells of leaves.
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Chloroplasts contain internal disc-shaped membrane structures known as thylakoids.
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The pigment chlorophyll absorbs visible light within thylakoids.
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Photosynthesis is divided into two sequential stages.
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The two sequential stages of photosynthesis are the light-dependent reactions and the light-independent reactions.
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The light-independent reactions are also known as the Calvin cycle.
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The light-dependent reactions utilize captured light energy to generate ATP.
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The Calvin cycle occurs in the stroma.
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The stroma is the fluid-filled inner space of the chloroplast.
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The Calvin cycle uses ATP generated in the light-dependent reactions to convert CO2 into glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P).
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Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P) is a three-carbon sugar.
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Carbon fixation is catalyzed by the enzyme Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO).
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RuBisCO is widely recognized as the most abundant enzyme on Earth.
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Evolutionary biology postulates that chloroplasts originated via endosymbiosis.
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Chloroplasts are postulated to have originated approximately 1.5 billion years ago.
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Chloroplasts are postulated to have originated when an ancestral eukaryotic cell engulfed a free-living, photosynthetic cyanobacterium.
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The advent of oxygenic photosynthesis by cyanobacteria drove the Great Oxidation Event.
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The Great Oxidation Event permanently altered Earth's atmospheric chemistry by introducing free oxygen (O2).
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The exact timeline for the origin of the earliest photosynthetic machinery remains contested.
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Some evidence suggests anoxygenic photosynthesis may have originated over 3 billion years ago.
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Precise dates for the origin of the earliest photosynthetic machinery are actively debated among paleobiologists.
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RuBisCO has a tendency to bind with oxygen instead of carbon dioxide.
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Photorespiration is an energy-wasting process.
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Biologists debate whether RuBisCO's tendency to bind with oxygen is an evolutionary flaw or an optimized physiological trade-off.
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Some researchers argue RuBisCO's tendency to bind with oxygen represents a highly constrained adaptive optimum due to biochemical difficulties distinguishing CO2 from O2.
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Some researchers contend RuBisCO's tendency to bind with oxygen is an archaic inefficiency.
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Some researchers contend RuBisCO's archaic inefficiency can be improved through synthetic bioengineering.
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External references: Wikidata Q11982