Effects of Organic Pollutants on Photosynthesis

Abstract

Life on earth is powered by the process of photosynthesis. For more than billion years, life on earth has been transformed by the photosynthetic organisms. Photosynthetic organisms like cyanobacteria, algae, and plants harvest sunlight and produce oxygen and organic molecules, which are responsible for life on earth. Photosynthesis starts with the absorption of light of the visible region coming from the sun. It includes several partial processes such as splitting of water to molecular oxygen, electrons, and protons, which participate directly in the electrochemical reactions leading to phosphorylation and fixation of carbon dioxide into sugars. Plants are sessile organisms that cannot move and thus cannot avoid exposure to fluctuating environmental conditions. Plants face several abiotic stress factors, such as water deficit (drought), excess water (flooding/water logging), extremes of temperatures (cold, chilling, frost, heat), high salt, mineral deficiency, and toxicity. Because of climate changes, it is predicted that these abiotic stresses may become more intense and frequent. Climate change, occurring either naturally or anthropogenically, poses serious challenges for agriculture all over the world. During the last decades, environmental contamination has become one of the major problems on this planet. Anthropogenic activities have led to an abundance of soil, water, and air pollutants, factors that directly affect plants. Amongst these, environmental organic pollutants (OPs) have an immense effect on plant growth and development. OPs and their transformation products have been the most investigated environmental pollutants in last two decades. They accumulate in humans, animals, and plants as they are hydrophobic and lipid‐soluble, and they biomagnify as they move up the food chain. OPs can be found everywhere on earth as they can travel great distances in both air and water. OPs have been found to cause serious disorders in mammals such as cancer and endocrine disorders. It is therefore essential to understand how these contaminants enter and move in the ecosystem and environment. Plants are capable of taking up, transforming, and accumulating environmental Effects of Organic Pollutants on Photosynthesis Rupal Singh Tomar, Bhupendra Singh, and Anjana Jajoo