State one function of each of the following:
1. Chlorophyll
2. Stomata
3. Phycoerythrin
4. Carotenoids
5. Ammonium in the soil
Answers
Answer:
Cholorophy:
Chlorophyll's job in a plant is to absorb light—usually sunlight. The energy absorbed from light is transferred to two kinds of energy-storing molecules. Through photosynthesis, the plant uses the stored energy to convert carbon dioxide (absorbed from the air) and water into glucose, a type of sugar.
Stomata:
They are pores surrounded by specialized parenchymatic cells, called guard cells. Stomata have two main functions, namely they allow for gas exchange acting as an entryway for carbon dioxide (CO2) and releasing the Oxygen (O2) that we breath. The other main function is regulating water movement through transpiration.
Phycoerythrin:
Phycoerythrin is an accessory pigment to the main chlorophyll pigments responsible for photosynthesis. The light energy is captured by phycoerythrin and is then passed on to the reaction centre chlorophyll pair, most of the time via the phycobiliproteins phycocyanin and allophycocyanin.
Carotenoids:
Carotenoids have been shown to have two major functions in photosynthesis. They act as photoprotective agents, preventing the harmful photodynamic reaction, and as accessory light-harvesting pigments, extending the spectral range over which light drives photosynthesis.
Ammonia in the soil:
Ammonia is a gas. Ammonium can escape from the surface of the soil under certain conditions and is harmful to plants in high quantities. Ammonium is the basic building block of commercial nitrogen fertilizers. Soil particles attract and retain ammonium on cation exchange complexes.