Photosynthesis is the set of light-driven biochemical processes by which phototrophic organisms convert electromagnetic energy into chemical energy, primarily storing it in carbohydrates synthesized from inorganic carbon. In oxygenic photosynthesis, chlorophyll-based reaction centers (photosystems I and II) located in thylakoid membranes couple photon absorption to charge separation, driving linear electron transport from water to NADP⁺, generating O₂, NADPH, and a proton motive force used for ATP synthesis via photophosphorylation. The resulting ATP and NADPH fuel the Calvin–Benson–Bassham cycle, which fixes CO₂ into organic molecules, integrating tightly regulated metabolic, redox, and signaling networks that respond to cellular and environmental conditions.
Plant owners with a so-called green thumb often seem to have a more finely tuned sense of what their plants need than the rest of us. A new "smart lighting" system for indoor vertical farms grants this ability on a facility-wide ...
Biotechnology
Feb 23, 2026
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Plants don't just respond to light and water, they also run on an internal daily timekeeper known as the circadian clock. Researchers have now discovered that the plant circadian clock can regulate electrochemical signals ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Feb 18, 2026
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Deep soils found in forests may be less effective at storing carbon in the long term than previously assumed, potentially reducing the net climate benefits of tree planting, a University of Stirling professor has warned. ...
Ecology
Feb 10, 2026
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The sun is the basis for photosynthesis, but not all plants thrive in strong sunlight. Strong sunlight constrains plant diversity and plant biomass in the world's grasslands, a new study shows. Temperature, precipitation, ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 9, 2026
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Plants fix 258 billion tons of CO2 in their chloroplasts through photosynthesis every year. For these cell organelles to work properly, they require certain minerals—particularly ions of the metals iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 3, 2026
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Before plants evolved, vegetative life consisted of primitive green algae living in the sea. Like plants, these algae survived by performing photosynthesis, turning sunlight into energy. However, little light reaches the ...
Evolution
Feb 3, 2026
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In efforts to better understand how soybean plants capture and use light, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign investigated how leaf size and shape affect light distribution within the crop canopy. Using ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 2, 2026
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Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created a new method that more than doubles computer processing speeds while using 75% less memory to analyze plant imaging data. The advance removes ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jan 29, 2026
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For 450 million years, plants and soil fungi have been trading partners. The fungi weave through plant roots, delivering phosphorus and other soil minerals in exchange for sugars and fats produced by the plant through photosynthesis. ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jan 22, 2026
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17
A research team led by Profs. Li Jing and Liu Qinhuo from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIRCAS) has developed the world's first global, high-resolution map of leaf chlorophyll ...
Environment
Jan 21, 2026
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