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I went to a lecture recently by a researcher who is investigating the mechanisms of photosynthesis. The chlorophyll uses the energy from the photon to pump an e

I went to a lecture recently by a researcher who is investigating the mechanisms of photosynthesis. The chlorophyll uses the energy from the photon to pump an electron, which (after a long and poorly-understood chain of reactions, which is what he was studying) creates an energy gradient which powers ATP synthase to produce ATP. Presumably if we understood and could recreate this reaction, we could create the electrochemical gradient directly, and then use it to power the ATP synthase and subsequent glucose-production mechanisms.

deleted 9y ago
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stefanpie 9y ago
What kinda gaps in our understanding do we have that limit the reserach for this idea. I know I've seen some news or buzz about creating electricity with "green solar panals": basically using photosynthesis instead of photovoltaic cells. Maybe you can figure out a way to manage the gradient in photosynthesis by trying to see which proteins and complexes and pathways we can fiddle with to regulate it the way we want. But still, even to get to that point we need to map out and understand a lot about the reaction and system before we can begin to probe and see what we can do.
WalterBright 9y ago
Biochemists at Caltech were studying photosynthesis back in the 70s, with an eye towards artificially replicating the process. I see not much progress has been made.
- c12 9y ago
  This is a paper from two years ago but it shows that progress is still being made in this field. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6290/1210 http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6290/1210
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littlestymaar 9y ago
> Presumably if we understood and could recreate this reaction, we could create the electrochemical gradient directly We don't need to reproduce the reaction, we know how to create a potential (in Volt) gradient between two faces of a membrane : you just need electrodes for that purpose.

deleted 9y ago

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stefanpie 9y ago

What kinda gaps in our understanding do we have that limit the reserach for this idea. I know I've seen some news or buzz about creating electricity with "green solar panals": basically using photosynthesis instead of photovoltaic cells. Maybe you can figure out a way to manage the gradient in photosynthesis by trying to see which proteins and complexes and pathways we can fiddle with to regulate it the way we want. But still, even to get to that point we need to map out and understand a lot about the reaction and system before we can begin to probe and see what we can do.

WalterBright 9y ago

Biochemists at Caltech were studying photosynthesis back in the 70s, with an eye towards artificially replicating the process. I see not much progress has been made.

c12 9y ago
This is a paper from two years ago but it shows that progress is still being made in this field. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6290/1210 http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6290/1210
deleted 9y ago
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littlestymaar 9y ago

> Presumably if we understood and could recreate this reaction, we could create the electrochemical gradient directly We don't need to reproduce the reaction, we know how to create a potential (in Volt) gradient between two faces of a membrane : you just need electrodes for that purpose.