Gratitude. Gave her another application of Gibberelin, same as before.
What can I do to increase the rate of cellular respiration?
We are adding more reactants, like glucose.
Photosynthetic efficiency is the fraction of light energy converted into chemical energy during photosynthesis in green plants and algae. The simplified chemical reaction can describe photosynthesis
6 H2O + 6 CO2 + energy β C6H12O6 + 6 O2
where C6H12O6 is glucose (which is subsequently transformed into other sugars, starches, cellulose, lignin, and so forth). The value of the photosynthetic efficiency is dependent on how light energy is defined β it depends on whether we count only the light that is absorbed, and on what kind of light is used (see Photosynthetically active radiation). It takes eight (or perhaps ten or more) photons to use one molecule of CO2. The Gibbs free energy for converting a mole of CO2 to glucose is 114 kcal, whereas eight moles of photons of wavelength 600 nm contains 381 kcal, giving a nominal efficiency of 30%. However, photosynthesis can occur with light up to wavelength 720 nm so long as there is also light at wavelengths below 680 nm to keep Photosystem II operating (see Chlorophyll). Using longer wavelengths means less light energy is needed for the same number of photons and therefore for the same amount of photosynthesis. For actual sunlight, where only 45% of the light is in the photosynthetically active wavelength range, the theoretical maximum efficiency of solar energy conversion is approximately 11%. In actuality, however, plants do not absorb all incoming sunlight (due to reflection, respiration requirements of photosynthesis, and the need for optimal solar radiation levels) and do not convert all harvested energy into biomass, which results in a maximum overall photosynthetic efficiency of 3 to 6% of total solar radiation. If photosynthesis is inefficient, excess light energy must be dissipated to avoid damaging the photosynthetic apparatus. Energy can be dissipated as heat (non-photochemical quenching), or emitted as chlorophyll fluorescence.
Starting with the solar spectrum falling on a leaf,
47% lost due to photons outside the 400β700 nm active range (chlorophyll uses photons between 400 and 700 nm, extracting the energy of one 700 nm photon from each one)
30% of the in-band photons are lost due to incomplete absorption or photons hitting components other than chloroplasts
24% of the absorbed photon energy is lost due to degrading short wavelength photons to the 700 nm energy level
68% of the used energy is lost in conversion into d-glucose
35β45% of the glucose is consumed by the leaf in the processes of dark and photorespiration
Stated another way:
100% sunlight β non-bioavailable photons waste is 47%, leaving
53% (in the 400β700 nm range) β 30% of photons are lost due to incomplete absorption, leaving
37% (absorbed photon energy) β 24% is lost due to wavelength-mismatch degradation to 700 nm energy, leaving
28.2% (sunlight energy collected by chlorophyll) β 68% is lost in conversion of ATP and NADPH to d-glucose, leaving
9% (collected as sugar) β 35β40% of sugar is recycled/consumed by the leaf in dark and photo-respiration, leaving
5.4% net leaf efficiency.
Far-red
In efforts to increase photosynthetic efficiency, researchers have proposed extending the spectrum of light that is available for photosynthesis. One approach involves incorporating pigments like chlorophyll d and f, which are capable of absorbing far-red light, into the photosynthetic machinery of higher plants. Naturally present in certain cyanobacteria, these chlorophylls enable photosynthesis with far-red light that standard chlorophylls a and b cannot utilize. By adapting these pigments for use in higher plants, it is hoped that plants can be engineered to utilize a wider range of the light spectrum, potentially leading to increased growth rates and biomass production.
Green
Green light is considered the least efficient wavelength in the visible spectrum for photosynthesis and presents an opportunity for increased utilization. Chlorophyll c is a pigment found in marine algae with blue-green absorption and could be used to expand absorption in the green wavelengths in plants. Expression of the dinoflagellate CHLOROPHYLL C SYNTHASE gene in the plant Nicotiana benthamiana resulted in the heterologous production of chlorophyll c. This was the first successful introduction of a foreign chlorophyll molecule into a higher plant and is the first step towards bioengineering plants for improved photosynthetic performance across a variety of lighting conditions.