Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Day 6
More of this "dark reaction" has been revealed to me. After CO2 and RUBP (ribulose biphosphate, becasue there are now two phosphates from the ATP and NADPH2) combined, there were several complex steps that led to me turning into PGAL, which is a 3-carbon sugar that takes 1 CO2 to make 2 PGAL. After six turns of the Calvin cycle, 5 more carbon dioxide molecules are created (thus there is a total of 6), which is enough to "store" me in 1 molecule of glucose. That means I am in a 6-carbon glucose (C6H12O6). It was a gruelling and sometimes painful journey, but the process of photosynthesis is complete and I am free to live in glucose!
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What is the difference between "light" and "dark" reactions?
ReplyDeleteA light reaction is the absorption and conversion of light into chemical energy in the form of ATP, while a dark reaction is when sunlight is stored in glucose (Calvin cycle).
ReplyDeletethe phosphates are NOT absorbed here- they are reused back in the light rx to make more ATP- the RUBP is already a chemical in there ready to use.
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