What Does Supercharged Photosynthesis?

Specter mentions that using these techniques we are actually able to make our foods a lot healthier. He says, “we can put something like vitamin A into rice, and that stuff can help millions of people, millions of people, prolong their lives.”One of the crops grown extensively in very poor areas of Africa

Hello, my name is Audrey and welcome to my presentation on the chemistry of photosynthesis and cellular respiration.

Based on your data, draw a conclusion regarding how light intensity affects the rate of photosynthesis.

Chloroplasts are important photosynthetic organelles that present in plant cells. It is believed that chloroplasts evolve from an endosymbiotic event; engulfment of a photosynthetic cyanobacterium by a large heterotrophic host cell (1, 2). During this process proteins in the cyanobacterium has been transferred to the nucleus and also the proteins that are essential for organelle biogenesis has been transferred to the cyanobacterium making it dependent on the host. Although chloroplast proteins have estimated to consist of 3500-4000 different types of polypeptides, the protein coding capacity in chloroplast genes is approximately 200 polypeptides (3, 4). This data further suggest that most of the proteins found in chloroplast are encode by nuclear genome and transport to the chloroplast. At least, a few proteins are use secretory pathway in which first targeted to the endoplasmic reticulum and then transfer to the chloroplast through vesicles (5-7).

14. At this point, a vacuum is to be created within the syringe to draw the air out of the tissue of the leaf disks. After this step, the experiment is really quite simple.

This can be a realistic outcome to present-day science. Many of our foods are being modified. China is developing the largest plant biotechnology capacity outside of North America. This would include trials of rice, what, potatoes and peanuts. (Huang, Rozelle, Pray & Wang, 2002, page 674)

The crops that make up the largest amount of human and livestock calories are wheat, maize, rice, and soybean (Lobell, Gourdji, 2012). Of those, corn is the only plant that is not a C3 photosynthesis plant. The most inefficient part of C3 plants is the enzyme Rubisco. This is because Rubisco is also responsible for carboxylation and oxygenation (Raines, 2011). Oxygenation is increased with high temperatures and drought. If a C3 photosynthesis plant can find a way to increase the amount of CO2 provided to Rubisco and limit oxygenation it would increase photosynthetic efficiency. Rubisco activase is the enzyme responsible for activating Rubisco and has been shown to be unstable in vitro in temperatures greater

Plants occur around the world in a wide variety of environments, but how does the environment affect photosynthesis rate? Temperature, light intensity, water supply, and the amount of carbon dioxide are all factors that contribute photosynthesis rate. For the lab on photosynthesis, our group tested the Anacharis Bunch plant, which is an aquatic plant that needs moderate light in order for photosynthesis to occur (“Anacharis (Egeria densa)”). For photosynthesis to take place, energy from the sun is required. When sunlight strikes a plant, the stoma opens and carbon dioxide along with energy from the sun are absorbed into the chlorophyll as well as water which is transported up through the leaves to the chloroplasts where the chlorophyll are located. The chlorophyll then uses carbon dioxide, water, and the sun’s energy to produce to sugars such as glucose. After the glucose is produced, the energy that is stored in the glucose is then used to form ATP, which is carried throughout the plant and into the chloroplast where the energy is used for photosynthesis and other cellular functions. As a byproduct of synthesizing, a plant releases oxygen and water into the air. Then the cycle of photosynthesis which is made up of two parts, the Light Reactions and the Calvin Cycle, start all over again (“A Primer on Photosynthesis”). To figure out the rate at which the Anacharis Bunch plant photosynthesizes under different conditions, my group and I decided to test the

The beginning of the discovery of photosynthesis began in the mid-17th century when J.B. Van Helmont carefully measured the mass of the soil used by a plant and the mass of the plant as it grew. After this noticed that the soil mass changed very little. He then hypothesized that the mass of the growing plant must come from the water.

The purpose of this lab is to understand the process of photosynthesis and how sunlight effect has on it. To prove that in order for photosynthesis to happen light is needed, and to see if temperature has an effect on how fast or how slow photosynthesis happens.

The photosynthesis lab is comprised of three short experiments. These experiments showed how to understand and apply the absorbance spectrum and which colors and wavelengths correspond to visible light. In order to fully understand this absorbance spectrum and how to apply it, we initially prepared a substance comprised of acetone, a large spinach leaf and petroleum ether and measured its absorbance in the spectrophotometer. This showed us what wavelengths corresponded to the most absorption of the spinach leaf. It is understood that the least amount of absorbance should occur after 500 nm and the lower the number, the lower the absorbency. Thus, the 700 ranges is the very least amount of absorbency and the results showed us that the lowest amount of absorbance was around 740nm, which is an accurate, representation of this solution. Next, to understand what wavelengths of light drive the light reactions you can visibly see in photosynthesis, we used CMS in a variety of tubes and measured its absorbency under white light, no light, and colored filters such as red and green. We then used the chlorophyll extract we originally prepared and painted this on a chromatography strip. We measured the band distances to find out the number of pigments in the spinach leaf. These processes helped emphasize how the chloroplast pigment extract and chloroplast membrane suspension have different functional capabilities and how photosynthesis works.

The project, largely funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, USAID, and Monsanto, is now in its second phase- the advanced experimental stage. Senior research scientist Nigel Taylor discusses how the technology has already proved to work in the fields in Uganda and Kenya, exemplifying the great promise GMOs have on the future (Alternet). More research is being done at the University of Freiberg in Germany to create a strain of rice, nicknamed the golden rice, to hold a higher nutritional value for consumers. Rice is the responsible for around 25% of human energy globally per capita (Rice facts). This essential food is a large part of the world’s main source of nutrition, and Dr. Peter Beyer has created a strain of rice that could improve the lives of millions. The golden rice strain holds DNA from daffodils and a few viruses allowing it to possess the ability to produce beta-carotene (Grain of Hope). Beta-carotene is a protein that the human body breaks down into vitamin A, a vitamin that nearly a million children die every year from due to a lacking of it in their

Photosynthesis is a vital process that autotrophs use to transfer light energy into chemical energy. Photosynthesis ultimately produces O2 and glucose. It, like many other biological processes, can be affected by environmental variables. The variable that we altered in the following experiment are intensity, light wavelengths, and pigment types. In order to do this, we conducted three experiments. In the first experiment, we examined the effect of light intensity by placing vials with chloroplasts with DPIP at different light distances in which the results varied. Initially, 30cm away was the most effective for photosynthesis. Then 24cm appeared to be the most effective. Followed by 49cm at minutes 25 and 30. In the second experiment, we

Without photosynthesis we would not be able to receive energy. We should be more appreciate of plants, without them we would not survive. This paper will explain the basic components require for photosynthesis, the role of chlorophyll, how energy is transferred, and photosystems I and II and the most precious product results of photosynthesis.

     Photosynthesis is a biochemical process in which plant, algae, and some bacteria harness the energy of light to produce food. Nearly all living things depend on energy produced from photosynthesis for their nourishment, making it vital to life on Earth. It is also responsible for producing the oxygen that makes up a large portion of the Earth¡¦s atmosphere. Factors that affect photosynthesis are light intensity and wave length, carbon dioxide concentration, and temperature.