C3 carbon fixation

Series of interconnected biochemical reactions

C3 carbon fixation is the most common of three metabolic pathways for carbon fixation in photosynthesis, the other two being C4 and CAM. This process converts carbon dioxide and ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP, a 5-carbon sugar) into two molecules of 3-phosphoglycerate through the following reaction: CO2 + H2O + RuBP → (2) 3-phosphoglycerate This reaction was first discovered by Melvin Calvin, Andrew Benson and James Bassham in 1950. C3 carbon fixation occurs in all plants as the first step of the Calvin–Benson cycle. (In C4 and CAM plants, carbon dioxide is drawn out of malate and into this reaction rather than directly from the air.) Plants that survive solely on C3 fixation (C3 plants) tend to thrive in areas where sunlight intensity is moderate, temperatures are moderate, carbon dioxide concentrations are around 200 ppm or higher, and groundwater is plentiful.

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