Can light reactions occur in the dark?

1 Answer
Dec 14, 2017

No

Explanation:

Light dependent reactions(taking place in thylakoid discs)of photosynthesis can't take place in absence of light.
The reason for this is that; during light reactions, the sunlight energy is the basic source which is absorbed by carotenoids and chlorophyll b(accessory pigments) and is converted into chemical energy#(ATP and NADPH#) by the chlorophyll a molecules in the reaction center.
Just like this:

#"Sunlight energy"# #to# #"carotenoids"# #to# #"chlorophyll b"# #to# #"chorophyll a"# #to# #"chemical energy"#

This chemical energy is then used by the dark reactions to produce sugars in the stroma of chloroplast.
https://www.nature.com/scitable/content/the-light-and-dark-reactions-in-the-14705803
Hope it helps...