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It makes use of the bacteriorhodopsin pigment. One of these, halobacterium halobium, grows in extremely salty water. Bacteriorhodopsin is a purple pigment that resembles the light-sensitive pigment in our eyes.Ĭurrent understanding is that the earliest photosynthetic organisms were aquatic bacteria, some of which are still around today.
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It looks like chlorophyll takes the part of the spectrum that bacteriorhodopsin doesn't take. So why reflect the green and waste the whole middle part of the spectrum? According to Moore, et al., this is a long story in fact ancient history! Light must be absorbed for nutrients to be created by Photosynthesis. The reflection and transmission of the middle of the spectrum gives the leaves their green visual color. It is evident from these absorption and output plots that only the red and blue ends of the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum are used by plants in photosynthesis. The measure of photochemical efficiency is made by meauring the amount of oxygen produced by leaves following exposure to various wavelengths.
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#Absorption spectra graph plus#
The plot of the absorption spectra of the chlorophylls plus beta carotene correlates well with the observed photosynthetic output. The measured rate of photosynthesis as a function of absorbed wavelength correlates well with the absorption frequencies of chlorophyll a, but makes it evident that there are some other contributors to the absorption. The most important of these is chlorophyll-a, but there are several accessory pigments that also contribute. Photosynthesis depends upon the absorption of light by pigments in the leaves of plants. Light Absorption for Photosynthesis Light Absorption for Photosynthesis
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