The Plant Phosphoeriolyruvate Carboxylase

Photosynthesis and cell respiration are some of the two most important biological processes that organisms go through. Photosynthesis is the biological process plants undergo to convert light energy into chemical energy. In chloroplasts the chlorophyll act as catalysts for this process. The process uses carbon dioxide (CO2) and Water (H2O) in order to produce glucose (C6H1206) and oxygen (02). Thus, it is read as 6CO2 + 6H2O —> C6H12O6 + 6O2. Photosynthesis is split into two different processes. The first process is light Dependent meaning i uses energy being absorbed to break down and molecules at a rapid photosynthetic rate. The second process is Light Independent meaning it uses ATP and NADH absorbed during when light was present to breakdown glucose instead. Therefore, Healthy plants are green because Chlorophyll absorbs red and blue light, but reflects green light signifying stored light.Some Anaerobic bacteria undergo photosynthesis meaning it can’t grow in oxygen and uses Carbon Dioxide and other substances like hydrogen sulfide to photosynthesis. In general all plants need Carbon Dioxide. (Ensminger, 2014)

Photosynthesis occurs each time the sun’s light reaches the lives of a plant. The chemical ingrediants for photosynthesis are carbon dioxide (CO2), a gas that passes from the air into a plant via tiny pores, and water (H20), which absorbed from the soil by the plant’s roots. Inside leaf cells, tiny structures called chloroplasts use light energy to rearrange the atoms of the ingrediants to produce sugars, most importantly glucose (C6H12O6) and other organic molecules. Chlorophyll gives the plant its green color (Simon, 02/2012, pp. 92-93). Chemical reactions transfers the sun’s light energy into the chemical bonds that hold energy-carrying molecules. The most common are

Introduction: Photosynthesis can be defined as a solar powered process that removes atmospheric carbon dioxide and transforms it into oxygen and carbohydrates (Harris-Haller 2014). Photosynthesis can be considered to be the most important biochemical process on Earth because it helps plants to grow its roots, leaves, and fruits, and plants serve as autotrophs which are crucial to the food chain on earth. Several factors determine the process of photosynthesis. Light is one these factors and is the main subject of this experiment. The intensity of light is a property of light that is important for photosynthesis to occur. Brighter light causes more light to touch the surface of the plant which increases the rate of photosynthesis (Speer 1997). This is why there is a tendency of higher rates of photosynthesis in climates with a lot of sunlight than areas that primarily do not get as much sunlight. Light wavelength is also a property of

The role of an enzyme is to catalyse reactions within a cell. The enzyme present in a potato (Solanum Tuberosum) is catechol oxidase. In this experiment, the enzyme activity was tested under different temperature and pH conditions. The objective of this experiment was to determine the ideal conditions under which catechol oxidase catalyses reactions. In order to do this, catechol was catalyzed by catechol oxidase into benzoquinone at diverse temperatures and pH values. The enzyme was exposed to its new environment for 5 minutes before the absorbance of the catechol oxidase was measured at 420 nm using a spectrophotometer. The use of a spectrophotometer was crucial for the collection of data in this experiment. When exposed to hot and cold temperatures, some enzymes were found to denature causing the activity to decrease. Similarly, when the pH was too high or low, then the catechol oxidase enzyme experienced a significant decrease in activity. It can be concluded after completing this experiment that the optimal pH for catechol oxidase is 7 and that the prime temperature is 20º C. Due to the fact that the catechol oxidase was only tested under several different temperatures and pH values, it is always possible to get a more precise result by decreasing the increments between the test values. However, our experiment was able to produce accurate results as to the

Rubisco is the most abundant protein on earth that is essential for carbon fixation in plants. For the protein to function at its optimal level, it needs to be isolated from the mixture of proteins and in its purest form. The three isolation techniques carried out in this lab are salting out, ion exchange chromatography, and SDS-PAGE. Rubisco will be purer as each technique is conducted and will be in its purest form after the last isolation technique is carried out.

My lab partners and I performed an experiment that involved placing spinach disks into separate cups of distilled water (dH2O) and 0.2% sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) solution to examine photosynthesis in leaf tissue (Department of EEB, 2015). Discovering that the spinach disks quickly floated to the top of the 0.2% NaHCO3 solution and not in dH2O, we wondered if varied concentrations of carbonation would affect the rate of photosynthesis (PS). We tested this by halving the 0.2% NaHCO3 solution (using equal parts dH2O and 0.2% NaHCO3 solution to make 0.1% NaHCO3 solution). I hypothesize that if the spinach disks are placed in the 0.1% NaHCO3 solution, then they will have a slower PS compared to the disks placed in 0.2% NaHCO3. CO2

4. Describe and demonstrate cellular respiration and energy production in plants including aerobic and anaerobic pathways.

The process of photosynthesis, by which light energy is used to convert inorganic compounds into organic substances with the release of oxygen, may be the most important biological event sustaining life (Keir et al. 2017). In the light-dependent reactions, the chloroplasts of a plant use the pigment chlorophyll to convert light energy into chemical energy. This energy is used to split water and produce oxygen (Eller et al. 2015). The energy is later used in the light independent reactions, where carbon dioxide (CO2) undergoes carbon fixation with the aid of enzyme rubisco, because it catalyses both carboxylation and oxygenation reactions and most of responses of photosynthesis to light, CO2, and temperature (John Evans 2013).

“Photosynthesis is a biochemical process for building carbohydrates using energy from sunlight and carbon dioxide taken from the air”, (Morris, J. (2016) Biology How Life Works. New York, NY.). It is a system that uses plants and specific algae to synthesize molecules from both water and carbon dioxide. The oxygen we breathe and the food we eat is fueled by photosynthesis because it is an energy source. Photosynthesis occurs in eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms and some examples are humans, trees, and plants. Biological systems use photosynthesis as an energy source. Where there is a source of sunlight, there is a chance

University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom. E J H Corner, 2002. The Life of Plants. University of Chicago Press,

Introduction Proteins are critical components in understanding cells and organisms which can contribute to further developments in medicine. Proteins compose more than 50% of the dry weight of cells [2]. Enzymes are the proteins that catalyze most reactions in a cell that keeps the cell going. By isolating protein scientists can understand, modify, and sequence specific proteins away from other cellular components. The specific protein being looked at is Rubisco (Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/ oxygenase) which is a plant enzyme that has a key role in photosynthesis [1].

Photosynthesis occurs in the palisade mesophyll of plant leaves. During photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is broken up into 6 carbon for the sugar molecule and 12 oxygen. In this lab, I determined the rate of photosynthesis in spinach

Atropa belladonna is a plant, thus it goes through the metabolic process of photosynthesis, in which the chloroplasts and chlorophyll use the sun’s photons to cause a reaction between CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) and H2O (water) to produce glucose (C6H12O6) and oxygen (O2). These products are vital for cellular respiration in Atropa belladonna, which involves the glucose and oxygen reacting together to produce carbon dioxide and water that is stored as energy in ATP molecules (“Plant Metabolism”, 2005).

     Photosynthesis has a two-stage performance before plants produce the two products they are known to produce. These stages are Photosystem I and II. Photosystem II is dependant on light reactions for energy which causes the electrons to be react and be transferred to Photosystem II. The electrons are transported through the Photosystem II electron transport system, however some energy is used to drive ATP synthesis. Meanwhile, light is being absorbed by the Photosystem I, which causes the electrons to react. This process sends the electrons to the Photosystem I transport system where some energy is released as electrons travel through the electron transport system and is captured as NADPH. When this process is completed oxygen is released from the plant and glucose has been

Water- Water is required in the photosynthetic reaction. When plants lack water, their stomata close to prevent further water loss. At the same time, closing the stomata cells doesn't allow CO2 to diffuse into the leaf. Water is also therefore, linked to the carbon dioxide factor.