A survey of carbon fixation pathways through a quantitative lens

While the reductive pentose phosphate cycle is responsible for the fixation of most of the carbon in the biosphere, it has several natural substitutes. In fact, due to the characterization of three new carbon fixation pathways in the last decade, the diversity of known metabolic solutions for autotr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental botany 2012-03, Vol.63 (6), p.2325-2342
Main Authors: Bar-Even, Arren, Noor, Elad, Milo, Ron
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adenosine Triphosphate - metabolism
Autotrophic Processes - physiology
Biochemistry
Biological and medical sciences
Carbon Cycle - physiology
Carbon dioxide
Carbon Dioxide - metabolism
Dehydrogenases
Enzymes
Ferredoxins
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Glyoxylates
Kinetics
Metabolism
Microbiology
Molecules
Oxidation-Reduction
Oxygen - metabolism
Photosynthesis - physiology
Plant physiology and development
Plants - metabolism
REVIEW PAPER
Thermodynamics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:While the reductive pentose phosphate cycle is responsible for the fixation of most of the carbon in the biosphere, it has several natural substitutes. In fact, due to the characterization of three new carbon fixation pathways in the last decade, the diversity of known metabolic solutions for autotrophic growth has doubled. In this review, the different pathways are analysed and compared according to various criteria, trying to connect each of the different metabolic alternatives to suitable environments or metabolic goals. The different roles of carbon fixation are discussed; in addition to sustaining autotrophic growth it can also be used for energy conservation and as an electron sink for the recycling of reduced electron carriers. Our main focus in this review is on thermodynamic and kinetic aspects, including thermodynamically challenging reactions, the ATP requirement of each pathway, energetic constraints on carbon fixation, and factors that are expected to limit the rate of the pathways. Finally, possible metabolic structures of yet unknown carbon fixation pathways are suggested and discussed.
ISSN:0022-0957
1460-2431
DOI:10.1093/jxb/err417