THE PATH OF CARBON IN PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Biosynthesis begins with photosynthesis. Green plants and other photosynthetic organisms use the energy of absorbed visible light to make organic compounds from inorganic compounds. These organic compounds are the starting point for all other biosynthetic pathways. The products of photosynthesis provide not only the substrate material but also chemical energy for all subsequent biosynthesis. For example, nonphotosynthetic organisms making fats from sugars would first break down the sugars to smaller organic molecules. Some of the smaller molecules might be oxidized with O{sub 2} to CO{sub 2} and water. These reactions are accompanied by a release of chemical energy because O{sub 2} and sugar have a high chemical potential energy towards conversion to CO{sub 2} and H{sub 2}O. In a biochemical system only part of this energy would be released as heat. The heat would be used to bring about the conversion of certain enzymic cofactors to their more energetic forms. These cofactors would then enter into specific enzymic reactions in such a way as to supply energy to drive reactions in the direction of fat synthesis. Fats would be formed from the small organic molecules resulting from the breakdown of sugars. Thus sugar, a photosynthetic product, can supply both the energy and the material for the biosynthesis of fats

Plane-symmetric inhomogeneous magnetized viscous fluid universe with a variable Λ\Lambda

The behavior of magnetic field in plane symmetric inhomogeneous cosmological models for bulk viscous distribution is investigated. The coefficient of bulk viscosity is assumed to be a power function of mass density $(\xi =\xi_{0}\rho^{n})$. The values of cosmological constant for these models are found to be small and positive which are supported by the results from recent supernovae Ia observations. Some physical and geometric aspects of the models are also discussed.Comment: 18 pages, LaTex, no figur

Direct detection of DNA on gold structured planar substrates by Raman microscopy

Detection of DNA sequences is pivotal to many modern molecular diagnostic methods, but the ability to directly detect DNA sequences, without the need for signal amplification (such as by applying a polymerase chain reactions) is highly desirable. Here we investigate the potential for gold inverted pyramidal structures (also known as Klarite®) for DNA detection, as these simple chips containing the structured surface on a face could offer an improved format for DNA based diagnostic methods. Our strategy included optimization of the fabrication protocols to achieve flat gold surfaces within the inverted pyramidal surface and then a subsequent assessment of these substrates for direct DNA detection by Raman microscopy. These studies demonstrate for the first time the potential of these gold structured planar substrates for DNA analysis applications