Question

What is the importance of Light Dependent and Light Independent?

Answer 1

Light-Dependent Reactions of Photosynthesis. The first major set of processes in photosynthesis, in which light energy is initially converted into chemical energy as ATP and NADPH, takes place across the chloroplast thylakoid membranes, between the chloroplast stroma and the thylakoid space.

The light-dependent reactions use light energy to make two molecules needed for the next stage of photosynthesis: the energy storage molecule ATP and the reduced electron carrier NADPH. In plants, the light reactions take place in the thylakoid membranes of organelles called chloroplasts.

Photosystems, large complexes of proteins and pigments (light-absorbing molecules) that are optimized to harvest light, play a key role in the light reactions. There are two types of photosystems: photosystem I (PSI) and photosystem II (PSII).

Both photosystems contain many pigments that help collect light energy, as well as a special pair of chlorophyll molecules found at the core (reaction center) of the photosystem. The special pair of photosystem I is called P700, while the special pair of photosystem II is called P680.

The net effect of these steps is to convert light energy into chemical energy in the form of ATP and NADPH. The ATP and NADPH from the light-dependent reactions are used to make sugars in the next stage of photosynthesis, the Calvin cycle. In another form of the light reactions, called cyclic photophosphorylation, electrons follow a different, circular path and only ATP (no NADPH) is produced.

Xerophytes, such as cacti and most succulents, also use

phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxylase to capture carbon dioxide in a process called crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). In contrast to C4 metabolism, which physically separates the CO2 fixation to PEP from the Calvin cycle, CAM temporally separates these two processes.

CAM plants have a different leaf anatomy from C3 plants, and fix the CO2 at night, when their stomata are open. CAM plants store the CO2 mostly in the form of malic acid via carboxylation of phosphoenolpyruvate to oxaloacetate, which is then reduced to malate. Decarboxylation of malate during the day releases CO2 inside the leaves, thus allowing carbon fixation to 3-phosphoglycerate by RuBisCO. Sixteen thousand species of plants use CAM.

Some plants such as cacti can prepare materials for photosynthesis during the night by a temporary carbon fixation and storage process, because opening the stomata at this time conserves water due to cooler temperatures. In addition, cacti have evolved the ability to carry out low levels of photosynthesis without opening stomata at all, a mechanism for surviving extremely dry periods.

In plants, carbon dioxide (CO2) enters the leaves through stomata, where it diffuses over short distances through intercellular spaces until it reaches the mesophyll cells. Once in the mesophyll cells, CO2 diffuses into the stroma of the chloroplast, the site of light-independent reactions of photosynthesis. These reactions actually have several names associated with them. Other names for light-independent reactions include the Calvin cycle, the Calvin-Benson cycle, and dark reactions. The most outdated name is dark reactions, which can be misleading because it implies incorrectly that the reaction only occurs at night or is independent of light, which is why most scientists and instructors no longer use it.