In: Biology
A plant is placed in a sealed box with sufficient air, water and sunlight for several months. A chemical is added to the chamber that immediately adds electrons to all the oxygen in the chamber. Assume plants cannot perform fermentation. Also remember that gas diffuses freely across membranes and cell walls.
Which of the following is most likely if the plant is left in the chamber
the plant will die because it will be unable to do respiration |
the plant will die because it can no longer perform the light reactions |
the plant will die because it will not be able to go through the Calvin cycle |
the plant will live because it can perform glycolysis |
the plant will live because it does not require oxygen fo rmetabolism |
In the given scenario, when electron is added to oxygen then oxygen cannot perform as electron acceptor and will not be available to the plant or we can say that now plant is in oxygen depleted air.. Now, we know that plants need water and sunlight only to perform light dependent reactions of photosynthesis and CO2 to perform light independent reaction of photosysnthesis. Hence, in the given situation plant will be able to perform both the light reactions and Calvin cycle (light independent reactions). Again we know that plants produce nearly 10-times more oxygen than they need to perform cellular respiration. Therefore, despite being in oxygen depleted air in the chamber the plant will be able to perform cellular respiration as well.
So, keeping the above arguments in mind we can say that plant will live because it can perform glycolysis with the help of oxygen it produces during photosynthesis.
Thanks!