(37-A): Photosynthesis

INTRODUCTION
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, some bacteria, and some protistans use the energy from sunlight to produce sugar, which cellular respiration converts into ATP, the fuel used by all living things. The conversion of unusable sunlight energy (solar energy) into usable chemical energy, is associated with the actions of the green pigment chlorophyll. Most of the time, the photosynthetic process uses water and releases the oxygen .We can write the overall reaction of this process as :

The above chemical equation translates as: Six molecules of water plus six molecules of carbon dioxide produce one molecule of sugar plus six molecules of oxygen.

STRUCTURE OF LEAF
Plants are the only photosynthetic organisms to have leaves (and not all plants have leaves). A leaf may be viewed as a solar collector crammed full of photosynthetic cells. The raw materials of photosynthesis, water and carbon dioxide, enter the cells of the leaf, and the products of photosynthesis, sugar and oxygen, leave the leaf. Water enters the root and is transported up to the leaves through specialized plant cells known as xylem. Land plants must guard against drying out (desiccation) and so have evolved specialized structures known as stomata to allow gas to enter and leave the leaf. Carbon dioxide cannot pass through the protective waxy layer covering the leaf (cuticle), but it can enter the leaf through an opening (the stoma; plural = stomata; Greek for hole) flanked by two guard cells. Likewise, oxygen produced during photosynthesis can only pass out of the leaf through the opened stomata.

Unfortunately for the plant, while these gases are moving between the inside and outside of the leaf, a great deal water is also lost.

Cottonwood trees, for example, will lose 100 gallons of water per hour during hot desert days. Carbon dioxide enters single-celled and aquatic autotrophs through no specialized structures.

CHLOROPHYLL AND ACCESSORY PIGMENTS

A pigment is any substance that absorbs light. The color of the pigment comes from the wavelengths of light reflected (in other words, those not absorbed). Chlorophyll, the green pigment common to all photosynthetic cells, absorbs all wavelengths of visible light except green, which it reflects to be detected by our eyes. Black pigments absorb all of the wavelengths that strike them. White pigments/lighter colors reflect all or almost all of the energy striking them. Pigments have their own characteristic absorption spectra, the absorption pattern of a given pigment. Chlorophyll is a complex molecule. Several modifications of chlorophyll occur among plants and other photosynthetic organisms. All photosynthetic organisms (plants, certain protistans, prochlorobacteria, and cyanobacteria) have chlorophyll a. Accessory pigments absorb energy that chlorophyll a does not absorb. Accessory pigments include chlorophyll b (also c, d, and e in algae and protistans), xanthophylls, and carotenoids (such as beta-carotene). Chlorophyll absorbs its energy from the Violet- Blue and Reddish orange-Red wavelengths, and little from the intermediate (Green-Yellow-Orange) wavelengths.

STAGES OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS
Photosynthesis is a two stage process. The first process is the Light Dependent Process (Light Reactions), requires the direct energy of light to make energy carrier molecules that are used in the second process. The Light Independent Process (or Dark Reactions) occurs when the products of the Light Reaction are used to form C-C covalent bonds of carbohydrates. The Dark Reactions can usually occur in the dark, if the energy carriers from the light process are present. Recent evidence suggests that a major enzyme of the Dark Reaction is indirectly stimulated by light, thus the term Dark Reaction is somewhat of a misnomer. The Light Reactions occur in the grana and the Dark Reactions take place in the stroma of the chloroplasts.

THE CARBON CYCLE

Plants may be viewed as carbon sinks, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and oceans by fixing it into organic chemicals. Plants also produce some carbon dioxide by their respiration, but this is quickly used by photosynthesis. Plants also convert energy from light into chemical energy of C-C covalent bonds. Animals are carbon dioxide producers that derive their energy from carbohydrates and other chemicals produced by plants by the process of photosynthesis. The balance between the plant carbon dioxide removal and animal carbon dioxide generation is equalized also by the formation of carbonates in the oceans. This

removes excess carbon dioxide from the air and water (both of which are in equilibrium with regard to carbon dioxide). Fossil fuels, such as petroleum and coal, as well as more recent fuels such as peat and wood generate carbon dioxide when burned. Fossil fuels are formed ultimately by organic processes, and represent also a tremendous carbon sink. Human activity has greatly increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in air.

(37-B): Digestion in Plants

FACTS FROM NCERT:
The leaves have a green pigment called chlorophyll. It helps leaves to capture the energy of the sunlight. Besides leaves, photosynthesis also takes place in green stems and green branches. Desert plants have green stems which carry out photosynthesis. Algae are nitrogenous substance which contains nitrogen. A plant like cascuta (amarbell) does not have chlorophyll. It takes readymade food from the plant on which it is climbing. The plant on which it climbs is called a host. Since it deprives the host of valuable nutrients. It is called a parasite. Insectivorous plants:- these are insect eating plants. The insects is digested by the digestive juices secreted in the pitcher, the pitcher like structure is the modified part of the leaf. Fungi have a different mode of nutrition. They secrete digestive juices on the dead conert it into a solution. Then they absorb the nutrient from it. This mode is called saprotrophic nutrition. Plants which use saprotrophic mode of nutrition are called saprotrophs. Eg: A mushroom as a saprotrophs. Some organisms live together and share shelter and nutrients. This is called symbiotic relationship. Organism like algae and fungus live together. The fungus provides shelter. Water and minerals to the algae and in return the algae provides food which is prepared by photosynthesis. Rhizobium cannot make its own food. So it lives in the roots of gram, peas, moong beans and other legumes and provides them nitrogen in return , the plants provide food and shelter to the bacteria, they have a symbiotic relationship.

(37-C): Plant Reproduction

INTRODUCTION
Animal life cycles have meiosis followed immediately by gametogenesis. Gametes are produced directly by meiosis. Male gametes are sperm. Female gametes are eggs or ova. The plant life cycle has mitosis occurring in spores, produced by meiosis, that germinate into the gametophyte hase. Gametophyte size ranges from three cells (in pollen) to several million (in a lower plant such as moss). Alternation of generations occurs in plants, where the sporophyte phase is succeeded by the gametophyte phase. The sporophyte phase produces spores by meiosis within a sporangium. The gametophyte phase produces gametes bymitosis

within an antheridium (producing sperm) and or archegonia (producing eggs). Within the plant kingdom the dominance of phases varies. Nonvascular plants, the mosses and liverworts, have the gametophyte phase dominant. Vascular plants show a progression of increasing sporophyte dominance from the ferns and fern allies to angiosperms.

FLOWERING PLANTS
Flowering plants, the angiosperms, were the last of the seed plant groups to evolve, appearing over 100million years ago during the middle of the Age of Dinosaurs (late Jurassic). All flowering plants produce flowers and if they are sexually reproductive, they produce a diploid zygote and triploid endosperm.

FLOWERS
Flowers are collections of reproductive and sterile tissue arranged in a tight whorled array having very short internodes. Sterile parts of flowers are the sepals and petals. When these are similar in size and shape, they are termed tepals. Reproductive parts of the flower are the stamen (male, collectively termed the androecium) and carpel (often the carpel is referred to as the pistil, the female parts collectively termed the gynoecium).

STAMENS
The individual units of the androecium are the stamens, which consist of a filament which supports the anther. The anther contains four microsporangia within which microspores (pollen) are produced by meiosis. Stamens are thought to represent modified sporophylls (leaves with sporangia on their upper surface

POLLEN
Pollen grains (fromthe greek palynos for dust or pollen) contain the male gametophyte (microgametophyte) phase of the plant. Pollen grains are produced by meiosis of microsporemother cells that are located along the inner edge of the anther sacs (microsporangia). The outer part of the pollen is the exine, which is composed of a complex polysaccharide, sporopollenin. Inside the pollen are two (or, at most, three) cells that comprise the male gametophyte. The tube cell (also referred to as the tube nucleus) develops

into the pollen tube. The germ cell divides by mitosis to produce two spermcells. Division of the germcell can occur before or after pollination.

POLLINATION
The transfer of pollen from the anther to the female stigma is termed pollination. This is accomplished by a variety of methods. Entomo-phyly is the transfer of pollen by an insect. Anemophyly is the transfer of pollen by wind. Other pollinators include birds, bats, water, and humans. Some flowers (for example garden peas) develop in such a way as to pollinate themselves. Others have mechanisms to ensure pollination with another flower. Flower color is thought to indicate the nature of pollinator: red petals are thought to attract birds, yellow for bees, and white for moths. Wind pollinated flowers have reduced petals, suchas oaks and grasses.

GYNOECIUM
The gynoecium consists of the stigma, style, and ovary containing one or more ovules. These three structures are often termed a pistil or carpel. In many plants, the pistils will fuse for all or part of their length.

THE STIGMA AND STYLE

The stigma functions as a receptive surface on which pollen lands and germinates its pollen tube. Corn silk is part stigma, part style. The style serves to move the stigma some distance from the ovary. This distance is species specific.

THE OVARY
The ovary contains one or more ovules, which in turn contain one female gametophyte, also referred to in angiosperms as the embryo sac. Some plants, such as cherry, have only a single ovary which produces two ovules. Only one ovule will develop into a seed.

THE GAMETOPHYTES
The male gametophyte develops inside the pollen grain. The female gametophyte develops inside the ovule. In flowering plants, gametophyte phases are reduced to a few cells dependant for their nutrition on the sporophyte phase. This is the reverse of the pattern seen in the nonvascular plant groups liverworts, mosses, and hornworts (the Bryophyta). Angiosperm male gametophytes have two haploid nuclei (the germnucleus and tube nucleus) contained within the exine of the pollen grain (or microspore). Female gametophytes of flowering plants develop within the ovule (megaspore) contained within an ovary at the base of the pistil of the flower. There are usually eight (haploid) cells in the female gametophyte: a) one egg, two synergids flanking the egg (located at the micropyle end of the embryo sac) b) two polar nuclei in the center of the embryo sac; and three antipodal cells (at the opposite end of the embryo sac from the egg).

DOUBLE FERTILIZATION
The process of pollination being accomplished, the pollen tube grows through the stigma and style toward the ovules in the ovary. The germ cell in the pollen grain divides and releases

two sperm cells which move down the pollen tube. Once the tip of the tube reaches the micropyle end of the embryo sac, the tube grows through into the embryo sac through one of the synergids which flank the egg. One sperm cell fuses with the egg, producing the zygote which will later develop into the next-generation sporophyte. The second sperm fuses with the two polar bodies located in the center of the sac, producing the nutritive triploid endosperm tissue that will provide energy for the embryos growth and development. FRUIT The ovary wall, after fertilization has occurred, develops into a fruit. Fruits may be fleshy, hard, multiple or single. Note:- View the Seeds of Life site for illustrations and information about fruits and seeds. Seeds germinate, and the embryo grows into the next generation sporophyte.

VEGETATIVE PROPAGATION
Many plants also have an asexual method of reproduction. Often some species, such as many orchids, are more frequently propagated vegetative than via seeds. Tubers are fleshy underground stems, as in the Irish potato. Leaflets are sections of leaf will develop roots and drop off the plant, effectively cloning the plant. Runners are shoots running along or over the surface of the ground that will sprout a plantlet, which upon settling to the ground develop into a new independent

FACTS FROM NCERT

Flowers are the reproductive parts of a plant. In asexual reproduction plants can give rise to new plants without seeds. In sexual reproduction, new plants are obtained from seeds. In asexual reproduction the reproduction is happen through the negative parts of the plant, it is known as negative propagation. Yeast reproduces through budding. Algae grow and multiply rapidly by fragmentation. An algae break up into two or more fragments. These fragments or pieces grow into new individuals. Fungi on bread pieces grow from spores which are present in the air, spores are asexual reproductive bodies Under favourable condition a spore germinates and develops into a new individual. Plants such as mass and farness also reproduce by means of spores.

In sexual reproduction the stamens are the male reproductive part. The pistil is the female reproduction part. The flowers which contain either only the pistil or only the stamens are called unisexual flowers The flowers which both stamens and pistil are called bisexual flowers. Corn, papaya and cucumber produce unisexual flowers. Spores are covered by a hard protective coat to with stand unfavorable conditions such as high temperature and low humidity. Mustard, rose and petunia have bisexual flowers. Another contains pollen grains which produce male gametes. The female gamete or the egg is formed in an ovule. The transfer of pollen from the other to the stigma of a flower is called pollination. When the pollen of a flower lands on the stigma of another flower of the same plant or that of a different plant of the same kind is called crosspollination. After fertilization the ovary grows into a fruit, the fruit is the ripened ovary.