| A | B |
|---|
| accessory pigment | a pigment that absorbs light energy and transfers energy to chlrophylla in photosynthesis |
| adenosine diphosphate | a substance involved in energy metabolism formed by the breakdown of adenosine triphosphate |
| ATP synthase | an enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of ATP from ADP and phosphate |
| biochemical pathway | a series of chemical reactions in which the product of one reaction is consumed in the next reaction |
| Calvin cycle | a biochemical pathway of photsynthesis in which carbon dioxide is converted into carbohydrate |
| CAM | a biochemical pathway in certain plants in which carbon dioxide is incorporated into organic acids at night and released for fixation in the Calvin Cycle during the day |
| carbon fixation | the incorporation of carbon dioxide into organic compounds |
| carotenoid | a light absorbing compound that functions as an accessory pigment in photosynthesis |
| chemiosmosis | a process in chloroplasts and mitochondria in which the movement of protons down their concentration gradient across a membrane is coupled to the synthesis of ATP |
| chlorophyll | a class of light absorbing pigments used in photosynthesis |
| C3 plant | a plant that fixes carbon exclusively through the Calvin cycle, named for the three carbon compound that is initially formed |
| C4 pathway | a pathway that incorporates carbon dioxide into four carbon compounds |
| electron transport chain | molecules in the thylakoid membrane that use some of the enregy in electons to pump protons across the membrane |
| granum | a stack of thylakoids in the chloroplast |
| light reactions | the initial reactions in photosynthesis, including the absorption of light by photosystems I and II, the passage of electrons along the electron transport chains, the production of NADPH and oixygen and the synthesis of ATP through chemisosmosis |
| NADP+ | an organic molecule that accepts electrons at the end of the electron transport chain in the light reactions (forming NADPH) |
| PGA | a three carbon molecule formed in the first step of the Calvin Cycle |
| PGAL | a three carbon molecule formed in the second step of the Calvin cycle that can leave the cycle and can be used to make other organic compounds |
| photosynthesis | the conversion of light energy into chemical energy stored in organic compounds |
| photosystem | in plants, a unit of several hundred chlorophyll molecules and carotenoid pigment molecules in the thylakoid membrane |
| photosystem I | the second cluster of pigment molecules embedded in the thylakoid membrane that donate an elecron to NADPH |
| photosystem II | the first cluster of pigment molecules embedded in the thylakoid membrane that donates its excited electron to photosystem I |
| pigment | in plants a compound that abosrbs light and imparts color |
| primary electron acceptor | a molecule in th thylakoid membrane that accepts the electrons that chlorophyll a loses in the light reactions |
| RuBP | a five carbon carbohydrate that combines with carbon dioxide to form two molecules of PGA |
| stoma | one of many small pores usually located on the underside of a leaf; aids in gas exchange |
| stroma | in plants, the solution that surrounds the thylakoids in a chloroplast |
| visible spectrum | the portion of sunlight perceived by the human eye as various colors |
| wavelength | the distance between crests in a wave, light travels in waves and the pigments are able to absorb different wavelengths of light |
