Life on earth is dependent on primary production of carbohydratesby plants. This

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Life on earth is dependent on primary production of carbohydratesby plants. This energy then flows through the biosphere in variousforms, and we may examine these processes in the context of themetabolic pathways you have learned.

a. 1.0 g carbohydrate is produced by photosynthesis. How manyphotons are needed, and what is their total energy?
b. This carbohydrate is metabolized (i.e. by the plant or perhapseaten by an animal) by glycolysis/ TCA/ mitochondrial electrontransport. How much energy is obtained? How efficient has thiscycle been, from photon energy to CHO and back to energy?
c. This carbohydrate is converted to fat in a seed. How much fat isproduced (in g)? The seed is then eaten by an animal. How muchenergy is produced? How does this impact the efficiency? Howefficient was the “storage” part of the process?
d. The seed fat (i.e. seed oils) is reconverted back tocarbohydrate. How much CHO is produced? How much energy did itcost? If some of the fat was diverted and metabolized to producethis energy (-Ox/TCA/mito), then how much CHO is produced?Thus, how efficient is this storage, in terms of mass? If this CHOis later converted to energy, how efficient is it, in terms ofenergy?
e. If, way back in the first step, photorespiration occurred with1/10th the rate of CO2 fixation, then how is the part b efficiencyimpacted? Is this enough to give C4 plants an advantage? If so, howgreat is their advantage (over C3 plants)? If not, how much morephotorespiration needs to occur before they get the upper hand?

Sketch an overview of the pathways in each process, showing keyintermediates, relevant high energy compounds, and stoichiometeriesneeded to calculate to final numbers for each part.

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