Aerobic photosynthesis

Fig. 6.5 Microbial iron and sulfur cycles that may have dominated biogeochemical cycling before the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis, aerobic respiration and possibly before the use of oxides of nitrogen.

When a technical language is adopted by those who do not share the expertise of its parent community, it may actually become distorted, and this may make it even more difficult for students to keep clear what different forms of symbolism mean. So in biology lessons students are likely to meet equations representing photosynthesis and aerobic respiration (Examples 7 and 8 in Table 4.1). When just considering the substances involved, these two equations will seem to stand in the same relation as those discussed for the hydrogen/nitrogen-ammonia equilibrium ... 

The cytochromes are another group of haem proteins found in all aerobic forms of life. Cytochromes are electron carriers involving a Fe(ii)/Fe(m) redox system. They are a crucial part of the electron transfer reactions in mitochondria, in aspects of the nitrogen cycle, and in enzymic processes associated with photosynthesis. 

Long-term aim of our project is the construction of a biomolecular device for hydrogen production in combination with light-driven water-splitting as it occurs in the natural process of photosynthesis in plants. Such a semiartificial device should combine the best suited components found in various native systems which - up to now - cannot be found in an individual native system due to incompatibilities and/or different origin (pro- and eukaryotic, meso- and thermophilic, aerobic - anaerobic environment). Advantage of such a system is... 

Depth profiles of (a) salinity (%o), (b) dissolved oxygen (ml /L), and (c) percent saturation of dissolved oxygen in the Southeastern Atlantic Ocean (9°30 W 11°20 S). Samples were collected in March 1994. Dotted lines represent the curves generated by the one-dimensional advection-diffusion model (see text for details). The values of Dz, Vz, and J are the ones that best fit the data. Data are from Java Ocean Atlas (http /odf.ucsd.edu/joa). Values of percent saturation of oxygen less than 100 reflect the effects of aerobic respiration. Values greater than 100 indicate a net input, such as from photosynthesis. (See companion website for color version.)... 

O2 is supplied to the surfece waters of the ocean through two processes photosynthesis and the dissolution of atmospheric O2 across the air-sea interfece. Because both processes are restricted to the surfece waters, the only source of O2 to the deep sea is through the sinking of surface water masses. If the rate of deepwater formation was to slow or stop, so would the transport of O2 to the deep sea, with potentially fatal consequences for deep-dwelling aerobic organisms. 

The balance between relative rates of aerobic respiration and water movement were considered in Section 4.3.4. We saw that a subsurfece concentration minimum, the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ), is a common characteristic of vertical profiles of dissolved oxygen and is produced by in situ respiration. Waters with O2 concentrations less than 2.0 ppm are termed hypoxic The term anoxic is applied to conditions when O2 is absent. (Some oceanographers use the term suboxic to refer to conditions where O2 concentrations fall below 0.2 ppm but are still detectable.) As illustrated by Figure 4.21b, this water column is hypoxic in the OMZ. The dissolved oxygen concentrations are presented as % saturations in Figure 4.21c. With the exception of the mixed layer, the water column is undersaturated with respect to dissolved oxygen with the most intense undersaturations present in mid-depths. Surface supersaturations are the result of O2 input from photosynthesis and bubble injection. 

Continuum of metabolic strategies. AnAnP, anaerobic anoxygenic photosynthesis OP, oxygenic photosynthesis AAnP, aerobic anoxygenic photosynthesis RP/PC, rhodopsin and other pigments HT, heterotroph DOM, dissolved organic matter. Source-. From Filer, A. (2006). Applied Environmental MIoroblology, 42(12), 7431-7437. 

The dissolved oxygen data follow depth trends that are nearly a mirror image of the nutrients. The OMZ lies at depths slightly above the core of the AAIW. Why is the OMZ located at these depths To answer this question, oceanographers use the vertical concentration profiles of O2, nutrients, and TDIC to assess the relative rates of aerobic respiration and photosynthesis as a function of depth. (The TDIC concentration is used as a measure of how much CO2 has been taken up from or released into the water.)... 

The effects of photosynthesis are clearly seen in the low TDIC and nutrient concentrations of the surface water. The O2 concentrations are high because of contact with the sea surfece and production by phytoplankton. The temperature and O2 concentration data have been used to compute the percent saturation with respect to O2. The high degree of supersaturation in the surfece water suggests that the rate of O2 supply via photosynthesis is exceeding its removal via the dual processes of aerobic respiration and degassing across the air-sea interface. 

A stabilization pond is a simple pond in which aeration is not mechanically enhanced. Its shallow depth allows the pond to function aerobically without mechanical aerators. Algae in the pond produce oxygen through photosynthesis, which is then used by the bacteria to oxidize the wastes. Because of the low loadings, little biological sludge is produced and the pond is fairly resistant to upsets due to shock loadings. 

---