Question

How are the light reactions of photosynthesis important to the production of glucose?

Answer 1

Photosynthesis is the mechanism by which sunlight energy is used by plants, some bacteria, and some protists to generate sugar, which is converted into ATP by cellular respiration, the "fuel" used by all living organisms.

Complete answer:
In photosynthesis, the thylakoid membranes are influenced by light-dependent reactions. The interior of the thylakoid membrane is called the lumen, and the stroma, where light-independent reactions take place, is outside the thylakoid membrane.

The photosynthesis process has two major steps:

In thylakoid membranes, light reactions create chemical energy in the form of NADPH and ATP. By using the chemical energy given by light reactions, dark reactions(Calvin cycle) occurring in chloroplast stroma create sugars. So, it is obvious that the above two phases are strongly connected to each other and are essentially part of a single phase. And if we lose one, the system would be left unfinished, so it would not be feasible to reach the final result (sugar).

In order to drive the creation of new carbohydrate molecules, the light-independent molecules rely on the energy carrier molecules, ATP and NADPH. The energy carrier molecules return to light-dependent reactions to gain more energized electrons after the energy is transferred.

Note: The key difference between light and dark reaction is that the first step of photosynthesis is light reaction, which traps light energy to create ATP and NADPH, while the second phase of photosynthesis is dark reaction, which creates glucose using the energy form of ATP and NADPH derived by light.