BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Tag: photosynthesis (Page 1 of 2)

Harnessing the Power of Photosynthesis for Sustainable Energy

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On March 8, 2024

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Researchers at the University of Rochester have started on a project aimed at creating clean hydrogen fuel by mimicking the processes of photosynthesis.  Their project, as detailed in a publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), delves into the realm of artificial photosynthesis, aiming to harness the power of nature to produce hydrogen fuel in an eco-friendly way. The project revolves around the use of Shewanella oneidensis, a bacteria, along with nanocrystal semiconductors. The bacteria serve as an efficient and cost free electron donor to the photocatalyst, a critical component in the artificial photosynthesis system. By using the unique processes of the microorganisms alongside nanomaterials, the team aims to pave the way for a clean energy solution to this ever so polluted world. The head researchers at Rochester aim to highlight hydrogen as an ideal fuel due to its environmental friendliness as well as a high energy per molecule source. However, it is extremely hard to extract in its pure form.

Leaf 1 web

Artificial photosynthesis represents a promising way for achieving this, witht he process of three key components: a light absorber, a catalyst for fuel production, and a source of electrons. The team’s system uses semiconductor nanocrystals for light absorption and catalysis, while utilizing Shewanella oneidensis as an electron donor. This remarkable bacteria possess the ability to transfer electrons generated from its metabolism to an external catalyst, facilitating the production of hydrogen gas from water when exposed to light. The project at the University of Rochester seeks to mimic the natural process of photosynthesis, a fundamental concept in AP BIO. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. The most important process in photosynthesis that the researchers are trying to mimic is the process to break down H2O into H+ ions. By understanding the fundamentals of AP BIO and its study of Photosynthesis we can learn to appreciate nature and its amazing processes such as the one that the researchers are attempting to mimic. This study, if succeeded, would be revolutionary as it is a sustainable practice and would significantly help reduce the use of fossil fuels which would greatly help with global warming. I hope that this project succeeds and am extremely grateful for learning the fundamentals of Biology in AP Bio for me to be able to understand how photosynthesis works and how the researchers will attempt to mimic this process in order to better the world.

Can You Hear Photosynthesis Occurring Underwater ?

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On March 5, 2024

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You may not realize it, but you have the ability to hear plants harnessing the sun’s energy to perform the reaction of photosynthesis. All you have to do is take a dive under water and listen carefully for the distinct “ping” noise made while down there. New studies have found that this “ping” is the sound that underwater plants, such as red algae, make when performing photosynthesis.

Montastraea annularis (boulder star coral) (San Salvador Island, Bahamas) 1

Algae and other underwater plants perform photosynthesis just like any other land plant. What this means is that they use the sun’s rays to chemically convert carbon dioxide and water into a sugar used for plant energy and oxygen as a waste product that flows throughout the planets atmosphere. In the underwater atmosphere, these oxygen molecules are tiny bubbles that race upwards in the water. Researchers have found that when these oxygen bubbles disconnect from the plants they make a sudden “ping” noise.

The noise was first recognized by researchers in Hawaii when the Hakai Magazine reported that healthy and protected coral reefs were making low frequency sounds, while damaged coral reefs were making higher pitched sounds.

One researcher from this magazine, Simon Freeman, said that “there seemed to be a correlation between the sound and the proportion of algae covering the sea floor.” To test this assumption, Freeman and his team transferred 22lbs of invasive red algae from the Hawaiian bay to a tank filled with sea water in attempt to hear the pinging sound without the noisy distractions of the ocean. As it turned out, this research team heard the same high frequency pings from this algae as they did from the distressed reefs.

Researchers claim that a large part of corals’ distress comes from all the algae that are smothering the corals, and this is why the distressed corals had a higher frequency noise: they had more algae covering its surface that perform photosynthesis and produce these oxygen bubbles. They believe with this finding that monitoring the sounds of the oxygen bubbles could be a fast and less invasive way of keeping track of the health of coral reefs.

This connects to what we have learned in AP Bio as in the process of photosynthesis, the chlorophyll of a plant absorbs light energy called photons, which excites the chlorophyll. The excited chlorophyll pass the photons from one chlorophyll to another until the energy reaches a special chlorophyll in the reaction complex center of Photosystem II known as the p680 chlorophyll. Once the photon reachers this special chlorophyll, p680 donates an electron to the primary electron acceptor in the thylakoid membrane to start the electron transport chain. In order to replace this donated electron, water molecules (one of the reactants of photosynthesis) are quickly split up resulting in an electron and replace the donated one, hydrogen, and oxygen as a waste product. This oxygen that is released at this point of the photosynthesis process is the oxygen that is released from all plants, including the underwater plants like the algae, when they perform photosynthesis. It is waste oxygen that is released from the algae underwater that forms the oxygen bubbles that detach from the plants and float upwards, and eventually make the “ping” noise underwater that you can hear when you dive in. Moreover, when we say you can “hear photosynthesis,” what you are really hearing is the oxygen bubbles created as a waste product of photosynthesis when they detach from the plants.

When going out to a beach and diving underwater, I would sometimes find myself hearing a faint little pinging or bubble popping noise. Could this noise I am hearing be the oxygen bubbles from the photosynthesis of underwater plants? What do you think?

The Cyathea Rojasiana: The Little “Fern” that Could (…Survive on its Own)

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On February 27, 2024

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Have you ever wondered how some plants survive severe environments? Well, the Cyathea rojasiana is a prime example of this, as it can transform dead leaves into roots that keep the plant alive. The article, “Back from the Dead: Tropical Tree Fern Repurposes Dead Leaves” explains this plant and its amazing abilities. Cyathea rojasiana, a unique tree fern from Panema, converts its dead leaves into little roots that seek out nutrient-rich soil.

Cyathea arborea 1

The plant was found by plant biologists, notably Professor James Dalling. According to Dalling, the plant’s process of self-nourishment happens after the leaves have fully died and blended with the soil. The fern then reorganizes its leaves, absorbing nutrients, particularly nitrogen, from the soil via its newly created roots. Furthermore, even though the tree fern’s dead leaves appear to be disintegrating, they’re actually helping the plant survive. Since Panama’s soil is deficient in nutrients, this process is essential to the tree’s survival. 

 

To continue, after reading the story, I was reminded of the photosynthesis unit I learned in AP Biology. Photosynthesis, in simple terms, is the process by which plants transform light energy into chemical energy in the form of glucose through photosystems (II and I) and the Calvin cycle. Despite their differences, the sentiments remain the same. While the Cyathea rojasiana’s adaptation does not replace photosynthesis, it complements it. The tree obtains nutrients from the soil via its roots, ensuring that it gets the building blocks required for development and survival.

Photosynthesis en

In conclusion, as someone who enjoys planting and loves nature, it was very interesting to learn about this unique tree because it reveals a unique survival skill I was unaware of. The tree has learned to absorb nutrients while growing in soil that lacks nutrients. This shows how well some plants can adjust to harsh conditions, giving ideas for new and creative gardening methods. Additionally, learning about the Cyathea rojasiana provides information that can be used to enhance gardening. So, is this something you want to try and implement into your gardening routine? Let me know in the comments!!

 

The Power Of Artificial Photosynthesis

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On February 27, 2024

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In AP Biology, we learned that photosynthesis has evolved in plants as a means of converting water, sunlight energy, and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen, but also into plant biomass and the food we eat. Therefore we also know that the photosynthesis process, especially in C3 plants, is highly inefficient as only about 1% of sunlight energy is actually incorporated into the plant. Researchers at the University of Riverside and the University of Delaware have actually discovered a new way to bypass the reliance on biological photosynthesis and have devised a method of using artificial photosynthesis to produce food independent from sunlight. Isn’t that amazing!

The artificial photosynthesis process involves a two-step electrocatalytic procedure that transforms carbon dioxide, solar panel-generated electricity, and water into acetate, which is a salt and chemical compound (C2H3O2−). Sec-Butyl acetate 3D ball(Electrocatalysis is a catalytic process that requires oxidation and reduction reactions through the transfer of electrons). Food-producing organisms consume the acetate in the dark to grow. This method significantly increases the conversion efficiency of sunlight into food, achieving up to 18 times greater efficiency. An integral component of this process is the electrolyzer device, which employs electricity to convert carbon dioxide into essential molecules for the food-producing organisms.

Green algae, yeast, and fungal mycelium were among the various food-producing organisms cultivated in the dark, confirming the efficacy of the artificial photosynthesis process. The production of algae using this technology is about four times more energy-efficient, while yeast production is approximately eighteen times more energy-efficient than growing it with the traditional biological photosynthesis methods.

Artificial photosynthesis offers a potential solution to the challenges posed by climate change in agriculture. By freeing crops from reliance on sunlight, artificial photosynthesis opens the door to possibilities for growing food under difficult conditions such as climate-related issues like drought, floods, and limited land availability. Isn’t the establishment of artificial photosynthesis an amazing feat! Feel free to leave a comment on my post and, if you do, list one fact that you found really interesting about artificial photosynthesis!

1.78 Billion Year Old Bacteria: the Origins of Photosynthesis

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On January 7, 2024

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E. coli Bacteria (7316101966)

Pretty music everyone is aware of the term photosynthesis. We identify photosynthesis as the process plants take to make food by utilizing the sun’s energy. New findings take us back in time to the earliest signs of this process. The article published on January 3 2024 reveals that bacteria fossils hold some of the oldest signs of machinery required for photosynthesis. Cyanobacterias’s invention of photosynthesis is responsible for the oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere which is a large sum of information derived from fossils. 

The bacteria fossils are compression of carbon that don’t contain any mineralized structures such as bone or shells. The fossils also revealed that there are complex structures inside of the microscopic bacteria such as thylakoids which are located inside of the chloroplast and allow photosynthesis to take place. It is exciting to see such old thylakoids inside of the bacteria fossils but it is not unheard of as some researchers believe that thylakoids may have evolved before the Great Oxidation Event which occurred around 2.4 billion years ago and marked a significant increase in Earth’s oxygen levels.

During the period that the bacteria fossils lived in, oxygen levels in Earth’s atmosphere were at a fraction of today’s levels which helps explain why the fossils hint that there may have been small pockets where oxygen was abundant, possibly allowing the evolution of the ancestors of plants and animals. Most of the rocks that scientists believe may harbor fossils similar to the ones discovered have been compressed destroying intracellular structures like thylakoids which makes the findings even more rousing. 

A similar article published the following day identifies the bacteria fossils to be between 1.73 and 1.78 billion years old. Furthermore, the article points out that prior to this discovery, the presence of thylakoids in cyanobacteria was traced back to only around 600 million years ago, but now the earliest evidence of thylakoids in cyanobacteria is 1.2 billion years older. The fossils are also defined as Navifusa Majensis, a presumed type of cyanobacteria. N. majensis fossils add a vital data point in the timeline that aims to discover the exact timing of oxygenic photosynthesis’s evolution.

A second article published on the same day explains that the bacteria fossils “were laid down in mud and squeezed as the mud was transformed into shale over time.” The intriguing part, though, is that the internal structures of the cells were preserved throughout this process. 

To help further explain the job of thylakoids in plant cells, in AP Biology class, we learned about the specifics of the chloroplast, the organelle in plant cells that is responsible for photosynthesis and plants green color. Furthermore, we learned that grana, located below the inner membrane of the chloroplast, are stacks of thylakoids. A large surface area of thylakoid disks results in better productivity in the cell. In the article linked in the previous paragraph, astrobiologist Emmanuelle Javaux is referenced as speaking about “dark lines stacked through tiny sausage-shaped cells” that they believe represent thylakoids. An image in the Cells Notes Packet displays the same description that Javaux is providing with dark rectangles being spread across an image of the chloroplast. 

I believe that these new findings are a great advancement in the mystery that is the evolution of photosynthesis in plants. These findings are one of the first steps of discovering the exact timing of oxygenic photosynthesis’s evolution. I look forward to seeing if more fossils are discovered with thylakoids and other complex structures still intact, what do you think?

 

New Generation of Coral!

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On March 17, 2023

In Student Post

As global warming continues to increase the temperature of the atmosphere and water column across our planet, the coral populations in our oceans are decreasing. Normally, to survive, coral hosts microscopic algae in its structure, which provides the coral with the energy it needs to grow. The algae produce glucose through photosynthesis, which the corals use to survive and to build their skeletons. This coral then releases oxygen that the algae takes back in. The stability of this symbiotic relationship is critical to corals’ survival. When a coral loses these symbiotic algae due to increases in water temperature, it causes the coral to turn white, as the coral struggles to meet its energy needs, which can often prove fatal. This phenomenon is called “bleaching.”

Bleached Staghorn Coral
Scientists studying coral bleaching have found evidence that some species of coral appear to be adapting to climate change and increasing their tolerance to warming ocean waters by changing the symbiotic algae communities they host. This allows the photosynthetic process to continue and provides them with the energy they need to live. This more resilient species of coral have been found in eastern tropical Pacific places such as Costa Rica, Mexico, and Colombia. These locations are projected to have higher coral cover through 2060. Pocillopora is one such species of coral and is an important genus found within the shallow coral reefs in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
I selected this article for my blog as it embodies several key biological concepts that we have studied and discussed in detail in class this year. These include the photosynthetic process and its important energy-producing biochemical reactions, the various types of successful symbiotic relationships between different organisms, and the role that DNA and genetics play in the evolutionary process of advancing successful biological adaptation.

DNA Structure+Key+Labelled.pn NoBB
Consistent with Darwin’s theory of evolution, it appears that Mother Nature, once again, may have found a way to overcome climate change, at least in this specific instance, and we may be witnessing it firsthand!

Understanding a Plant’s Stomata to Counteract Affects of Climate Change?!

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On March 5, 2023

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In mid January, 2023, researchers from the University of California San Diego made an important discovery surrounding photosynthesis, specifically the plants stomata, with climate change implications.

Tomato leaf stomate 1-color

Scientists have understood photosynthesis for many years. As we learned in AP Bio, photosynthesis is the process by which plants, algae, and some bacteria convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy in the form of glucose. The process of photosynthesis can be divided into two stages: the light dependent reactions, and the Calvin cycle.

The light-dependent reactions occur in the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts and involve the conversion of light energy into chemical energy in the form of ATP and NADPH. During these reactions, water molecules are split  into hydrogen ions, electrons, and oxygen gas. The electrons move through a series of electron carriers and ultimately end up on NADP+ to form NADPH. At the same time, hydrogen ions are pumped from the stroma into the thylakoid lumen, creating a concentration gradient that drives the synthesis of ATP through a process called photophosphorylation.

The Calvin cycle, occurs in the stroma of chloroplasts and involve the conversion of carbon dioxide into glucose. During these reactions, carbon dioxide is fixed into organic molecules by the enzyme rubisco. The resulting molecules are then reduced by NADPH and ATP produced during the light-dependent reactions to form glucose. The Calvin cycle also requires a source of hydrogen ions, which are provided by the light-dependent reactions through the production of NADPH.

The researchers at the university of California San Diego, have furthered this understanding by explaining how the stomata is able to sense when to open and close in order to allow carbon dioxide and water to enter and exit the plant. When the stomata is open for carbon dioxide to enter, it exposes the plant to the outside world, and water from the plant is lost, which can end up drying out the plant.

This research is important because as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, it could lead to the stomata of vital plants being left open too much, which would dehydrate the plant.

Fortunately, the research pointed to a specific protein, known as HT1, that was able to activate the enzyme that opens up the stomata in a low CO2 environment. The researchers also found a second protein that blocked the HT1 from keeping the stomata open in environments with higher CO2 concentrations. This second protein that was found is the reason plants will die when the atmosphere has too much CO2, as the stomata wouldn’t be open for long enough to get the necessary resources for photosynthesis.

This can relate to what we learn in AP Bio, in regards to enzymes and proteins. In AP bio, we learned that proteins are large molecules made of amino acids. Enzymes are a type of protein that catalyze chemical reactions. Enzymes also lower the activation energy needed for a reaction to occur. They interact with specific substrates to form enzyme-substrate complexes. The active site of an enzyme undergoes conformational changes, allowing for catalysis. Specific substrates can only bind to a particular enzyme. Enzyme activity can be affected by temperature, pH, and concentration. Enzymes work most effectively within a specific range of those things. Changes outside that range can affect structure and function. Enzymes and proteins play critical roles in many processes. Examples include DNA replication, protein synthesis, and metabolic pathways. Understanding enzyme-substrate interaction is crucial to understanding how the HT1 that activates the enzyme was able to speed up the reactions that caused the stomata to open up.

As Richard Cyr, the program director stated, “Determining how plants control their stomata under changing CO2 levels creates a different kind of opening — one to new avenues of research and possibilities for addressing societal challenges.” Hopefully this research can result in positive steps for the agricultural community as it takes on the challenge that is climate change.

 

Revolutionizing Photosynthesis: The Power of Rubisco Enzyme Engineering

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On March 5, 2023

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Enzyme engineering has the power to create several new discoveries and possibilities in the evolutionary field. Questions that were not answerable through decades of really hard biochemistry have now become accessible by integrating this evolutionary perspective. In the past, Rubisco faced many issues, such as starting to catalyze an undesired reaction, in which it mistakes O2 for CO2 and produces metabolites that are toxic to the cell. In the article by the Max Plank Society, researchers have discovered that the Rubiscos that show increased CO2 specificity recruited a novel protein component of unknown function, through resurrecting and studying billion-year-old enzymes in the lab using a combination of computational and synthetic techniques.

According to this article by Alejandra Manjarrez that analyzes that research, form I rubisco has the highest specificity for carbon dioxide and the most efficient catalytic activity. Form I Rubisco is made up of eight identical catalytic large subunits and eight identical small subunits. Researchers suspected that its enhanced ability to discriminate CO2 from chemically similar molecular oxygen could be related to the presence of these small subunits since no other forms of Rubisco have them.

1aa1

For years, research focused on changing amino acids in Rubisco itself, but new findings suggest that adding new protein components to the enzyme could be more productive. Rubisco is the most prevalent enzyme on the planet and is the key enzyme responsible for photosynthetic and chemoautotrophic carbon fixation and oxygen metabolism. It catalyzes the fixation of atmospheric CO2 to ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) to form two molecules of 3-phosphoglycerate (3PGA). This is the first part of the Calvin cycle which, as you learned in class, involves using atmospheric carbon dioxide, ATP, and NADPH to create G3P, which is the building block of glucose, through the processes of carbon fixation, reduction, and regeneration of the CO2 acceptor. With the new improvements in the efficiency of Rubisco and enzyme engineering as a whole, plants may be able to combat the increasing amount of carbon dioxide emissions hurting the earth through improved photosynthesis.

Artificial Photosynthesis

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On March 5, 2023

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On January 25, 2023, Science Daily released an article about new research discovered by Osaka Metropolitan University regarding the Synthesis of fumaric acid by a new method of artificial photosynthesis, using sunlight to make biodegradable plastic. 

Global warming has caused a growing issue in our environment due to greenhouse gasses such as CO2. This research states that by using artificial photosynthesis CO2 can be reduced, hence limit global warming. This discovery shows that fumaric acid can be synthesized from CO2 and biomass-derived compounds using renewable solar energy.

Greenhouse-effect-t2

As we have learned in Biology class, photosynthesis is an anabolic reaction because it builds up glucose, a bigger molecule, from water and carbon dioxide. Although –overall– photosynthesis is an anabolic reaction, catabolic reactions occur throughout photosynthesis because the large molecules, CO2 and H2o are broken down into their individual components- oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen- and then rearranged to create glucose using energy from the sun. In the Calvin Cycle, the goal is to produce G3P, from CO2, which will eventually become glucose, or sugar, however, this can’t be done without NADPH. 

Calvin-cycle4-ptbr

Research discovered by Professor Yutaka Amao, stated that CO2 could be reduced by mimicking this process and can reduce CO2 by combining it with organic compounds. While fumaric acid is typically synthesized from petroleum to be used as a raw material for making biodegradable plastic, this research team was successful in synthesizing fumaric acid,  from CO2, powered by sunlight. This process is known as artificial photosynthesis. 

It is really interesting how mimicking the process of photosynthesis can lead to  CO2 being reduced when combined with organic compounds, and used as raw materials, which can be converted into sustainable structures such as plastic!



Harnessing the Power of Photosynthesis for Environmental Gain

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On March 23, 2022

In Student Post

Human use of fossil fuel as a form of energy to sustain industry and modern lifestyle has had a detrimental effect on environmental efficiency. Nature’s ecosystems are dying and the atmosphere is polluted, causing climate change that further negatively impacts the ecosystems. With fossil fuel sources being depleted, humans must find new energy sources to sustain their current way of living while minimizing the potential harmful effects on the environment. Perhaps, surprisingly, a solution to these problems may be found in the untapped power of plants to sustain themselves through use of sunlight and water in a process called photosynthesis.

Sun shining

Photosynthesis is the process by which photons of light (coming from the rays of the sun) and water molecules are converted, through a complex, multi-step process, into glucose, a form of stored energy. Today, scientists are working on various ways to mimic the natural process of photosynthesis through artificial photosynthesis. Their goal is to find clean, affordable, efficient and sustainable ways to create energy that would allow humans to subsist as they do. 

 

Harnessing the power of the sun is full of potential because the sun’s energy is so great that the amount of sunlight hitting the earth in one hour can satisfy the energy needs of all humans for one year. 

 

Currently, the process most similar to artificial photosynthesis is photovoltaic technology which allows a solar cell to convert the sun’s energy into electricity. A small PV cell usually produces between 1 and 2 watts of power when sandwiched between protective materials like glass and plastics. In order to harness maximum energy, these PV cells, which are composed of semiconductor materials, are often chained into arrays that have the capacity to be bound to a larger electrical grid.  However, this process is inefficient because it harnesses only 20% of the sun’s energy, in part because the semiconductors in solar panels have limited ability to absorb and store sunlight energy.

 

By contrast, photosynthesis can store 60% of sunlight as chemical energy in biomolecules. In her research, Yulia Pukshar, a biophysicist at Purdue University, has been replicating the photosynthesis process by creating an analog that collects sunlight then splits water molecules to create hydrogen. Hydrogen is useful as a fuel to be used in fuel cells or as a fuel to be combined with other fuels (like natural gas) to provide power to homes, cars, electronic devices, etc. Much of Pushkar’s research has focused on determining which combinations of catalysts and photosystem II proteins work best to generate hydrogen from water molecules. She seeks to use chemicals and compounds that are abundant, easily accessible, inexpensive and non-toxic. Artificial photosynthesis is being developed with “nontoxic, easily available elements” which sets it apart from preexisting forms of “clean” energy. 

 

Currently, researchers have determined that the most durable oxygen evolving complexes (the portion of photosystem II that promotes photo-oxidation of water during photosynthesis) are those composed of cobalt-oxide based water oxidation catalysts. The use of such catalysts, that most closely resemble the true catalyst present in photosystem II, is highly costly and impractical when applied at a large scale. What seems to be a breakthrough in man-made, photosynthetic technology is merely in its infancy. If human civilization is to ever make a dent in this environmental crisis, new sources of sustainable energy must be implemented globally.  

 

Ever since I moved to Brookville from New York City, I developed a greater appreciation for the beauty and peacefulness of nature in my surroundings. My understanding of the process of photosynthesis has reinforced my sentiments as I now fully comprehend the value of plants to human life. As my family plants more trees on our property, I recognize that such plantings are helping the environment by absorbing CO2 and providing vital oxygen to the atmosphere. For this reason, among others, I support reforestation initiatives around the world as well as the Forest Program at FA.

How Do Guard Cells Attain Energy?

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On February 15, 2022

In Student Post

Ever since we were young, we understood that plants utilize photosynthesis for energy, releasing oxygen in the process. But, we did not learn which parts of the plant actually perform photosynthesis. This is highlighted by guard cells, the cell located in the upper epidermis that controls the concentration of Carbon Dioxide in the plant. So how do they contribute to photosynthesis?

Stomata & Guard Cells

The team of Dr. Boon Leong Lim at HKU wanted to observe the real-time production of ATP and NADPH in the mesophyll cell chloroplasts, which was done by using planta protein sensors in a model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. This plant is specifically used due to its small genome, short life cycle, simple process to mutagenize, and easily identifiable genes. Shockingly, the Guard Cells Chloroplasts have not detected any ATP or NADPH production whatsoever. Looking for answers, the researchers decided to contact Dr. Diana Santelia, an expert in cell metabolism. Throughout a decade of research and collaboration, they finally have an answer.

Unlike mesophyll cells, photosynthesis in the Guard Cells is inadequately regulated. This is because synthesized sugars from the mesophyll cells are imported into the Guard cells, in which is used ATP production for the opening of the stomata. Additionally, Guard Cells chloroplasts take cytosolic ATP through nucleotide transporters on the chloroplast membrane for starch synthesis throughout the day. At night, though, Guard Cells degrade starch into sugars for the opening of the stomata. Mesophyll Cells, on the other hand, synthesize starch and export sucrose at dawn. Thus, the chloroplasts of Guard Cells ultimately serve as starch storage for the opening of the stomata. Their function is closely linked to that of MCs in order to effectively coordinate CO2 absorption through stomata and CO2 fixation in MCs. 

Although the Guard Cells seem redundant, their role in the overall process of photosynthesis is absolutely necessary. As seen in AP Bio, the stomata are essential for gas exchange for photosynthetic reactions. The stomata’s main role is to take in Carbon Dioxide and release Oxygen, both of which are necessities for the reaction to occur. 

Thank you so much for reading this blog, and let me know what you think in the comments below!

Could A Simple Plant Principle Help Us Better Manipulate The Brain?

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On February 15, 2022

In Student Post

The researchers and scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine are working on a family of light-sensing molecules with great haste. This research can advance the very complicated field of optogenetics. There are light-sensitive proteins that play a very important role in the field of biology as a whole. This has to do with topics ranging from its use in photosynthesis to even our own vision. In photosynthesis these proteins are how plants are able to absorb the photons given off from the sunlight and react by using it as an energy source. Most of the information on these types of proteins are from the specific protein bacteriorhodopsin, which is seen in these photosynthetic reactions. However we can only study this protein to a certain point given the technology we have which has lead researchers to a road block. This new study which is being called; line-scanning high-speed atomic force microscopy, will help pass this block. 

Rat primary cortical neuron culture, deconvolved z-stack overlay (30614937102)

 

The problem that was occurring when studying this field was that the tracking of activity of individual molecules was too slow to see the protein actually change, for example how bacteriorhodopsin reacts to light. The new approach involves sacrificing the image detail of the altering molecules for a much faster frame rate. It is as if one was taking blurrier pictures of a horse in order to capture its entire journey. According to Dr. Perez Perrino they are tracking the protein every 1.6 milliseconds in order to speed of bacteriorhodopsin in its natural, wild-style habitat. As a result of light it will switch between open and closed states. With this new method of imaging they have concluded that the transition to the open state and the its duration always happen at the same speed. However the molecule remains in the closed state for a longer period of time as the light increases.

Optogenetics begins to play a role because researchers in this field insert genes for light-sensing molecules in neurons or other cells, causing them to alter the cell’s activity. This work could potentially help us control the brain in ways we could never imagine. This could lead to eventually treating neurological diseases in the near future.

Water’s Importance in Photosynthesis in California’s Rice Plants.

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On February 15, 2022

In Student Post

A rice farmer would be sloshing through inches of water amid lush, green rice plants in a typical year. But today, the soil lies naked and baking in 35 degrees Celsius or 95 degrees Fahrenheit heat during a devastating drought. The drought started in early 2020, and conditions have progressively gotten worse due to climate change. Low water levels in reservoirs and rivers have forced farmers to slash their water use. One farmer named Rystrom says, “We’ve had to cut back between 25 and 50 percent.” He’s relatively lucky. In some parts of the Sacramento Valley, he says farmers received no water this season in the United States, depending on water rights.

Green rice sheaves planted in a paddy field with long shadows at golden hour in Don Det Laos

California is the second-largest U.S. producer of rice, and over 95 percent of California’s rice is grown within about 160 kilometers of Sacramento. Rice growers in the valley below count on the range of mountains that contain snow to give them enough water for the season. In spring, melting snowpack flows into rivers and reservoirs and then through an intricate network of canals and drainages to rice fields that farmers irrigate in a shallow inundation from April or May to September or October. If too little snow falls in those mountains, farmers like Rystrom are forced to leave fields unplanted. On August 4, Lake Oroville, which supplies Rystrom and other local rice farmers with irrigation water, was at its lowest level on record.

Water is a fundamental part of the process of photosynthesis. Water acts as a reducing agent by providing H+ ions that convert NADP to NADPH. This electron loss must be fulfilled by electrons from some other reducing agent. Hydrogen ions thus released create a chemical potential (chemiosmotic) across the membrane that finally results in ATP synthesis. Photosystem II is primarily known for its use of water to fuel its system, which fuels Photosystem I. Since there is a lack of water in Rystrom’s rice fields, the photosynthesis that would occur in the rice plants cannot happen. If there is no water, there is no photosynthesis, and if there is no photosynthesis, there is no rice. The water allows the rice plant to go through the two Photosynthesis Cycles and then the Calvin cycle, which allows for glucose production. Glucose enables the plant to grow and mature. If the plant cannot grow, there will be no rice.

Photosynthesis

If the water in the California Valleys continues to plummet, California may not feed half of the world. If and maybe even when that happens, the rice market will not function. Water is so important to these farmers and so crucial to the plants. Is it possible to save the water we have left? Is it possible to reverse our mistakes with global warming to save these farms? I honestly don’t know, but I am willing to do what it takes to preserve what we have left.

 

Super-Spreader Plants: The #2 Cause of Biodiversity Loss Worldwide

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On February 14, 2022

In Student Post

According to the results of a global research project, conducted by the University of Konstanz and posted in December 2021, “super-invader” plants are a huge problem and greatly reduce biodiversity.

What even is biodiversity? What do the results mean? How does this even happen? Here’s what you need to know about these invasive plants that spread like wildfire.
Large-leaved Lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus). Invasive | Free Photo - rawpixelLarge-leaved Lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus). Invasive species in the wild of Ukraine.

What exactly are ‘invasive’ plants?

Coming from all around the world, invasive plant species cause harm to the environment, the economy, and/or to human health through rapid overpopulation. Most invasive plants come from other continents and countries, but few are native to other regions of the United States.

The extremely harmful side effects of invasive plants

  • a reduction in native biodiversity which adds to climate change, pollution, and more (I encourage you to self-educate on the importance of biodiversity here)
  • alteration of disturbance regimes
  • habitat degradation and loss (the loss of native fish, wildlife and tree species)
  • loss of habitat for dependent and native species (including wildlife)
  • changes in biogeochemical cycling
  • the loss of recreational opportunities and income
  • crop damage and diseases in humans and livestock
Free photo Asian Berry Red Honeysuckle Bush Invasive Plants - Max PixelJapanese honeysuckle

What makes these plants invasive?

Here are some characteristics of invasive plants, through both their properties and how they are distributed over large distances.

  • Can produce large quantities of seed
    • For example, each garlic mustard plant produces hundreds of thousands of seeds–which is a great abundance
  • Seeds are often distributed by birds, wind, or humans which allows them to travel significant distances
  • Many produce chemicals that make it difficult for other plants to grow nearby (ex: garlic mustard plant)
  • Some plants arrive accidentally in air or water cargo
  • Tourism: travelers from one country to another actually commonly spreads things such as insect pests or weed seeds across
  • Produce seeds and leaves that germinate and ‘leaf out’ way early in the spring. As an example, the Norway maple‘s seeds can be 6 inches tall before the plant sprouts, and buckthorns keep their leaves into November, long after native plants have lost theirs.
    • This results in the plant’s leaves being kept late into fall, allowing them to photosynthesize earlier and later than native plants

Looking deeper into this on a molecular level…

File:Photosynthesis.gifphotosynthesis drawing

Looking at the basic science of plants is helpful to understand why this earlier photosynthesis is so important. Plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create sugars and oxygen in energy form in the process called photosynthesis. Plants contain chloroplasts that perform this process, which is comprised of light-dependent reactions and the Calvin Cycle (light-independent reactions).

The goal of the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis is to collect energy from the sun and break down water molecules to produce energy-storing molecules ATP and NADPH. These are then used in the Calvin Cycle to turn carbon dioxide from the air into sugar, providing food for plants.

File:Simple photosynthesis overview.svg - Wikimedia Commons simple photosynthesis diagram

Plants with high photosynthetic rates will grow and reproduce earlier than their native counterparts, often out-competing them and leaving little space for them to thrive. They then can spread really fast due to their other properties listed above.

Why should we care?

Following habitat destruction, invasive species are the second leading cause of biodiversity loss around the world, contributing to climate change and pollution. Forty-two percent of threatened and endangered plants and animals in the United States are directly harmed by the presence of invasive organisms. That’s basically half! Governments around the globe spend billions of dollars each year to control the harm caused by these plants. Yikes.

What can we do?

Here’s what you can do to prevent the super-spread of invasive plants:

  • Learn how to identify these plants and educate your friends about them.
  • Don’t pick, gather, or bring home wildflowers that you can’t identify.
  • Check for weeds and seeds from shoes and clothing after a hike. Also, check your pet’s fur for them! Remove anything that you find before arriving home.
  • Try to keep your car off of weed-infested roads and trails.
  • Be on the lookout for seeds while camping and coming back from vacation!
  • Try to join a plant-removal project! Shown below is the happy result of an invasive species removal project completed by The Southeastern States District Office.

Dr. Mark van Kleunen, Professor of Ecology in the Department of Biology at the University of Konstanz and senior author of the research project’s publication, brings up the most important point: “Unless more effective protective measures are taken to counter the ongoing spread and naturalization of alien plants in the future, they will continue to destroy the uniqueness of our ecosystems — making the world a less diverse place.”

Can Humans use Photosynthesis to “Breathe”?

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On November 1, 2021

In Student Post

Throughout our lives we learn that photosynthesis is a way plants “breathe”.  As learned in AP Biology class, plant cells use photosynthesis to make glucose, which is how they “eat”, and a byproduct of this is oxygen.  We also learned that photosynthesis takes place in the chloroplasts and the thylakoid disks, which have a large surface area, making them very productive for the cell.  The process of photosynthesis takes carbon dioxide and uses energy from the sun to produce oxygen and sugar.  While this process has been primarily used in plant cells, what if animal  cells could also use photosynthesis as a way to “breathe”?

German scientists have explored this question and found a way to “introduce algae into [tadpoles] bloodstream to supply oxygen”.  This idea began with a researcher who thought that frog nerve cells could be stimulated using photosynthesis. His hypothesis was tested by putting green algae into the hearts of tadpoles, turning their veins green as it was pumped to their brains.  The researches did this by temporarily pausing the firing of the nerves in their brains before adding the algae.  Only 15-20 minuets later the nerves regained functionality which was “about two times faster than…without the algae”.  The experiment proved that photosynthesis was a “quick, efficient, and reliable” to revive neural activity in tadpoles.

BufoBufoTadpoles

While algae use in tadpoles was proved effective, this does not mean it is a dependable for other animal species yet.  Work is still being conducted to implement this technology for the benefit of humans.  Scientists believe that the use of photosynthesis could potentially be used as a treatment for strokes or other medical situations where oxygen in the body is limited.  First, they need to understand if the use of photosynthesis works for prolonged periods of time, or just momentarily.  The side effects of a process like this also need to be explored.

While the research required is not complete to help humans “breathe” using photosynthesis, scientists are headed in the right direction of a scientific breakthrough that could potentially save lives and help change modern medicine.

COVID-19 New Target: The Environment

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On December 31, 2020

In Student Post

The deadly COVID-19 virus has changed our way of living greatly, including individual human behavior as well as behavior on a larger scale regarding businesses and factories.

National Geographic published an article written by Beth Gardiner surrounding the misconception on how the environment has been impacted by this widespread virus. It is noted that many people assume the environment is in a thriving state due to a major decrease of time humans spent outside of their home. Ultimately this is not the case, the question is what’s really happening to our earth in this time of uncertainty?

The only way to answer this question is to look back on the beginning of the worldwide lockdown. In April 2020, people stayed inside, there was limited traveling occurring, and businesses and factories closed, with this information it imperative to see how this vast change impacted our surroundings. It was found that “daily global carbon emissions were down by 17 percent”. Although seemingly positive, this number is not much higher than that of previous years around a similar time. This means that with a complete lifestyle change from every single person and cooperation in the world, we still are unable to show a substantial amount of beneficial actions towards the environment to save it.

Now we all may know that carbon is released into the air in a variety of ways, however it is important to distinguish the differences in these ways. One of the most known, harmless ways is how living organisms release or interact with carbon. As we breathe we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, releasing it into the atmosphere, however plants and trees can use this CO2 to preform necessary tasks such as photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process where “plants use the energy from sunlight to produce glucose from carbon dioxide and water”. This process is crucial to support the life of a plant and provides their “food” to keep them thriving. Once the glucose is produced in the plant, pyruvate can be created. Pyruvic acid provides energy, ultimately allowing the increase of ATP production during the cellular respiration process.

ATP is energy used to power different processes such as forms of active transport allowing substances to move from a low to high concentration, unlike passive transport. ATP is not required when passive transport is occurring. As ATP is produced, it can be stored to be used later for processes such as cellular respiration and photosynthesis which are crucial in maintaining healthy plant cells, however, ATP can not be stored in its usual form, it must be in the form of storage molecules such as the carbohydrate glycogen. Carbohydrates function to store and release energy, once ATP is needed, it will be transformed out of it’s storage form back to ATP.

Now why is this background information important? Now that we see the good natural carbon dioxide does, we need to focus on how a certain type is damaging our planet. Carbon dioxide is emitted through the usage of gas from cars and factory productions, things so normalized on a daily basis. When these machines and vehicles release carbon, it has no where to go besides the atmosphere and plants can only take in so much carbon, ultimately its just pollution. This pollution now sits in our atmosphere and builds up as more time goes on. Carbon is needed to regulate and take in the inferred energy the earth releases, otherwise known as heat. Although carbon absorbs this energy, it still needs to go somewhere and one of those places is back into the earth’s environment. The excess amount of carbon in the atmosphere leads to something called climate change ultimately the more carbon released and built up, the hotter the earth will get which can make the earth inhospitable if we make no change. Another negative of the carbon build up in the atmosphere, is the effect is has on marine life. Carbon can make water acidic which damages the habitats and living conditions of underwater life.

Now that Carbon emission is fully explained and exemplified, lets answer our initial question. How has COVID-19 played apart in environmental issues. As mentioned there is evidence in a decrease in carbon emissions when human behavior was significantly changed, however the decrease barely surpassed that of previous years when life was ‘normal’. As things began to open up and manufacturing continued, it was found that the amount of carbon emissions went right back up to where there initially were. “In China, traffic is back to pre-pandemic levels”, and “factories pushed to make up for lost time, pollution returned in early May to pre-coronavirus levels, and in some places surpassed them”, disproving the idea that COVID-19 has been beneficial to our environment. Ultimately we have shown no progress in improving our environment even when almost every aspect of typical life was shut down. COVID-19 instilled panic in everyone including factories that are now just working to pollute the atmosphere more while they still can.

Photosynthesis and Climate

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On January 22, 2020

In Student Post

With the recent wild fires in Australia, climate change has been on everyone’s mind. According to the US Energy Information Administration, climate change is in part due to the excessive greenhouse gas emissions, 76% of which come from the burning of fossil fuels.

The greenhouse effect is when heat is trapped near the earths surface by greenhouse gases. There are natural green house gases like carbon dioxide from humans which raise the average temperature of the earth from around 0 degrees to 50, yet since we have continuously been burning more and more carbon dioxide through things like burning fossil fuels, the temperature of the earth keeps rising. Luckily, a group of researchers found a way to try to reduce that number.

A group of researchers tried to imitate photosynthesis by taking energy from the sun to generate chemical fuels, and were successful. Photosynthesis is the process that plants use in order to create food, and ultimately energy from the sun. In order to complete this conversion, H2O must be broken down and the hydrogen atoms must attach to carbon. Then eight electrons and four protons must be added to one molecule of carbon. Even with all these steps, the newly developed copper-iron based catalyst is what makes this process actually work. The carbon and iron “hold onto by their carbon and oxygen atoms“, which allows for enough time for hydrogen  to attach to the carbon.

The process would create a significant change in the amount of greenhouse gas emission if done on a large scale. For this to happen, a artificial photosynthesis panel would have to connect to a source of CO2. While this strategy would be financially costly, the reward for our earth would far surpass any monetary value.

To read more about this research and how it can help our earth, click here.

GOC Bypass… The Future of Food?

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On January 15, 2019

In Student Post

For years, scientists have been trying to find ways to avoid the imminent world food shortage crisis. Is there a scientific breakthrough that could help the world get more grain yield in plants and help avoid a worldwide food shortage? These are questions that farmers and scientists around the world have been trying to find the solution to for decades. Professor Xin-Xiang Peng, of South China Agricultural University, and his team believe that they have found the answer, a process they call the GOC Bypass method.

Professor Xin-Xiang Peng and his team conducted thorough research on rice plants, specifically, and tried to find a way to further maximize their grain yields. Peng and his team believe that with the growing population of the world and less useable cultivatable soil, scientists must find a way to maximize grain yield, in order to produce more food. After intensive research, Peng and his partner, Zheng-Hui He, believe that they have found a way to partially bypass a process called photorespiration and reuse the materials used in photorespiration in photosynthesis. This process is called GOC Bypass. Xiang and his team bioengineered the CO2 to be diverted from photorespiration and to instead be used during photosynthesis, causing increased grain yield.

Peng and He discovered that bioengineered rice plants have a 27% greater grain yield than normal rice plants. To achieve this, they converted a molecule called glycolate, which is a product of photorespiration, and converted it to CO2, using three rice enzymes: glycolate oxidase, oxalate oxidase, and catalase (AKA GOC). The CO2 was then diverted to photosynthesis, which was able to, in turn, create a higher grain yield as the photorespiration in the rice plants went down by approximately 25% and the net photosynthetic rate increased by about 15%, due to the higher concentrations of CO2 being able to be used for photosynthesis. Thus, increasing the grain yield in rice plants and harvesting more food from the same crop.

Biologically engineering food has been around for most of the 2000’s, but the GOC Bypass method is a new method that could potentially help combat the need for more food, due to the population growth and the decrease of cultivatable land. Peng and He’s research is promising, but it is still in its early stage. So, only time will tell if the GOC Bypass method will be of any use to mankind in the future and if this process can be used with a variety of different crops.

What do you think? Could the GOC Bypass method help solve the worlds emerging food crisis? Only time will tell.

The research is from Zheng-Hui He, Xin-Xiang Peng’s Engineering a New Chloroplastic Photorespiratory Bypass to Increase Photosynthetic Efficiency and Productivity in Rice, at the South China Agricultural University. The research was published by the Molecular Plant Shanghai Editorial Office in association with Cell Press, an imprint of Elsevier Inc., on behalf of CSPB and IPPE, SIBS, CAS.

 

 

 

Is Photosynthesis the Key to World Hunger?

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On January 12, 2019

In Student Post

With a global human population growth of about 83 million annually, one of the most pressing questions of the 21st century is how we will support our ever expanding population. A central study apart of the RIPE (Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency) International project may have found a key contributor to the solution.

Photosynthesis functions using an enzyme Rubisco and sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugars and oxygen. Overtime, Rubisco has created our oxygen rich environment, and now is unable to discern accurately between molecules of oxygen and molecules of carbon dioxide. 20% of the time Rubisco will grab oxygen instead of carbon dioxide, creating a toxic substance which must be recycled through a process known as photorespiration. Scientists from the University of Illinois and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service reported that plants engineered with photorespiratory shortcuts are 40% more productive in real life situations.

Currently being tested with genetically modifying tobacco plants, experts hope to apply this technology to food related crops within the next ten years. This represents a massive feat for addressing world hunger, as 200 million people could be fed with the calories lost to photorespiration in the midwest United States alone. RIPE and sponsors such a the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have pledged to allow small farmers (especially in sub-saharan Africa and Southeast Asia) free access to any project discoveries.

Would you eat food made from natural gas?

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On November 28, 2016

In Student Post

Methane Gas

Every since we were little we have been told that plants are a source of food and energy created by photosynthesis.  Humans eat plants and we eat animals that eat plants.  This is how energy is passed on, but what if I told you there was a way to get energy not from plants but from gas?  Seems kind of gross, right?

Michael Le Page wrote an article on the biotechnology company, Calysta, that has been working to use natural gas as forms of food for different animals.   They experiment with creating feed for farmed fish.  The process of creating this feed requires microbes that are put in a big area with methane.  Microbes feed off the methane and convert the digested methane into energy.  At the biotechnology company they specifically used a type of bacteria called Methlyococcus capsulatus which feeds off of the methane.  This process releases energy that can then be combined with other molecules to create food.  What is the point of this process?

This process of creating energy and food in a different way compared to photosynthesis has both positive and negative effects.  The reason for preforming such a strategy is to decrease a demand for land use (for example all of the farms used to grow plants and other crops), and to lower the amount of water used.  Another positive is the way in which methane is being used to create this feed.  Normally, in order to rid of methane it is just burned, but the way in which it is used for microbes to feed on it is much more productive and less wasteful.  Methane is a green house gas and is bad for the environment.  Instead of just burning it these studies have shown that it can be a useful source of food.  On the negative side using methane gas to produce energy results in the emission a lot of CO2.  CO2 is a also a greenhouse gas that increases the earths temperature, and adds to the problem of global warming.

Fish Farm

This process of creating feed when microbes convert methane to food has been pretty successful; some farm animals are eating this feed.  You never know, maybe one day humans will be eating food made from natural gases.  It really depends on where the world puts its priorities due to both negative and positive outcomes of the process.  What do you think is our most important priority?  Should factories go ahead and make this feed, despite the high levels of CO2 released?

 

 

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