Week8 Draft3

The process of photosynthesis is the method in which photoautotrophs such as plants and algae harvest energy from light and convert it to a usable form of chemical energy in the form of glucose. In the chloroplast of plant cells are stacked structures resembling disks which are called thylakoids, containing chlorophyll, a pigment responsible of light absorption. The granum, or stacked thylakoids are surrounded by a liquid known as the stroma. The structure of the chloroplast is crucial for the two parts of photosynthesis that biologists refer to as the light-dependent reactions, which occur in the thylakoid membrane, and light independent reactions (Calvin cycle), which occur in the stroma.