if chlorophyl b were not present in plants would the light reactions still occur.

The electrons would concentrate around a pair of chlorophyll a molecules at the reaction center with the help of accessory pigments.

Chlorophyl b is technically an accessory pigment so if it were not present, as long as there are sufficient other accessory pigments PSII would still occur?

Question

if chlorophyl b were not present in plants would the light reactions still occur.

The electrons would concentrate around a pair of chlorophyll a molecules at the reaction center with the help of accessory pigments.

Chlorophyl b is technically an accessory pigment so if it were not present, as long as there are sufficient other accessory pigments PSII would still occur?

anonymous · Answer

the answer appears to be yes, but im not sure which of the 2 statements are correct... yet

anonymous · Answer

wiki says chlorophyll b is an accessory pigment

anonymous · Answer

Yeah Im a bit confused because it is also called in some places a antenna pigment that absorbs light at shorter wavelengths then chlorophyll a and  transfers over energy to chlorophyl a.

So I guess the question is if some accessory pigments are needed because of their specific wavelengths to absorb light or if energy will eventually be transferred over to the reaction center without chlorophyll b being present

anonymous · Answer

it looks to extend the 'bandwidth' of light absorbtion as do other versions... http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Chlorophyll_f

anonymous · Answer

so is suspect photosynthesis would still occur just less efficiently

anonymous · Answer

Yeah I think I agree with that since chlorophyll b is not present in all photosynthetic organisms. Thanks!