Photosynthesis
- How Histone Acetyltransferases Shape Plant Photomorphogenesis and UV Responsewww.mdpi.com How Histone Acetyltransferases Shape Plant Photomorphogenesis and UV Response
Higher plants have developed complex mechanisms to adapt to fluctuating environmental conditions with light playing a vital role in photosynthesis and influencing various developmental processes, including photomorphogenesis. Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation can cause cellular damage, necessit...
- Oxygen-evolving photosystem II structures during S1–S2–S3 transitions - Naturewww.nature.com Oxygen-evolving photosystem II structures during S1–S2–S3 transitions - Nature
Serial femtosecond crystallography reveals the structural dynamics of photosystem II during the S-state transitions that produce dioxygen, providing insight into electron transfer, water insertion, proton release and O–O bond formation on sub-microsecond timescales.
- Helping plants make better use of sunlight - The Global Plant Councilglobalplantcouncil.org Helping plants make better use of sunlight - The Global Plant Council
Plants use photosynthesis to produce oxygen, nutrients and bioenergy. But this complex biochemical process is inefficient, with only a fraction of the sun's energy actually being utilized in photosynthesis. Researchers want to change this in order to help increase the yield of cultivated crops. A re...
- Ambidextrous Microbes May Pump Out CO2 as Temperatures Rise - Certain microbes that engage in both photosynthesis and predation are more likely to do the latter as the planet warmseos.org Ambidextrous Microbes May Pump Out CO2 as Temperatures Rise - Eos
Certain microbes that engage in both photosynthesis and predation are more likely to do the latter as the planet warms, resulting in a net release of carbon dioxide.
- ELI5: How do extremely variegated plants survive and thrive?
I love varigated plants and have a ton of them. I'm continually amazed at what leaves manage to survive if they're not completely white, and sometimes those white leaves just hang on longer than they should. Please ELI5, someone how these zombie creatures survive and flourish?
- Microbes Gained Photosynthesis Superpowers From a ‘Proton Pump’ | Quanta Magazinewww.quantamagazine.org Microbes Gained Photosynthesis Superpowers From a ‘Proton Pump’ | Quanta Magazine
New research reveals how marine microbes use an extra membrane that once had digestive functions to boost their yield from photosynthesis.
- [Book] Molecular Mechanisms of Photosynthesis
This is a book that I strongly to anyone with a reasonable biochemistry/chemistry background. Reading this book inspired me to create a community dedicated to photosynthesis, because I want to follow the work in this field more closely.
Photosynthesis is a topic introduced early during our education. We are taught that light consists of bundles of energy, and that plants use the energy from carried by sunlight to build carbohydrates from water and CO2.
Around high school and in introductory college level classes many of us also learn that plants are green because of the chlorophyll molecules, which absorb the blue and the red regions of the spectrum and leave enough green behind to be reflected. The absorbed light is used to kick-out an electron from a magnesium ion that is held at the center of the chlorophyll molecules, and this electron begins a sequence of redox reactions that eventually leads to the production of metabolic energy and carbohydrates.
This simplified description provides one with the the overall picture of the process, and it is more than sufficient for most people. But my gripe with this description is that many students may leave photosynthesis class without realizing just how spectacular and complex the system actually is.
!A diagram of the photosynthetic machinery
The photosynthetic machinery is by far the most advanced light-harvesting system that we know of. It uses a combination of many multiple physical principles - efficient energy transfer processes to move energy from light harvesting antennas into reaction centers, the ability to selectively funnel energy into non-radiative and non-photochemical quenching channels as a photoprotective mechanism, it utilizes as-of-today poorly understood 'superexchange' electron transfer mechanisms, and many more things that you can learn about in the recommended book.
There is also the added complexity that photosynthesis is extremely diverse, with different organisms having evolved very different solutions to meet their specific needs. Here is a figure from the text in which the photosynthetic assemblies from different types of organisms are compared:
!A diagram showing the components of the photosynthetic assemblies of different types of organisms
Maybe this post can inspire someone to take a look at this book. And, if so, hopefully they will also find a lot of value in it!
- Chemists discover why photosynthetic light-harvesting is so efficientnews.mit.edu Chemists discover why photosynthetic light-harvesting is so efficient
For the first time, MIT chemists measured the energy transfer between photosynthetic light-harvesting proteins. They discovered that the disorganized arrangement of light-harvesting proteins boosts the efficiency of the energy transduction.
