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Carbon fixation
 
 
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Carbon fixation is a process found in autotroph
Autotroph

An autotroph is an organism that produces complex organic compounds from simple inorganic molecules using energy from light or inorganic chemical reactions....
s (organisms that produce their own food), usually driven by photosynthesis
Photosynthesis

File:Seawifs global biosphere.jpgPhotosynthesis is a metabolic pathway that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight....
, whereby carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalent bond to a single carbon atom. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure and exists in Earth's atmosphere in this state....
 is changed into organic materials. Carbon fixation can also be carried out by the process of calcification in marine, calcifying organisms such as Emiliania huxleyi
Emiliania huxleyi

Emiliania huxleyi, often abbreviated to simply "EHUX", is a species of coccolithophore with a global distribution from the tropics to subarctic waters....
.

The Calvin Cycle
Calvin cycle

The Calvin cycle is a series of biochemistry reactions that take place in the Stroma of chloroplasts in photosynthesis organisms. It was discovered by Melvin Calvin, James Bassham and Andrew Benson at the University of California, Berkeley ....
 is the most common method of carbon fixation?

In plant
Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
s, there are three types of carbon fixation during photosynthesis:






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Carbon fixation is a process found in autotroph
Autotroph

An autotroph is an organism that produces complex organic compounds from simple inorganic molecules using energy from light or inorganic chemical reactions....
s (organisms that produce their own food), usually driven by photosynthesis
Photosynthesis

File:Seawifs global biosphere.jpgPhotosynthesis is a metabolic pathway that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight....
, whereby carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalent bond to a single carbon atom. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure and exists in Earth's atmosphere in this state....
 is changed into organic materials. Carbon fixation can also be carried out by the process of calcification in marine, calcifying organisms such as Emiliania huxleyi
Emiliania huxleyi

Emiliania huxleyi, often abbreviated to simply "EHUX", is a species of coccolithophore with a global distribution from the tropics to subarctic waters....
.

The Calvin Cycle
Calvin cycle

The Calvin cycle is a series of biochemistry reactions that take place in the Stroma of chloroplasts in photosynthesis organisms. It was discovered by Melvin Calvin, James Bassham and Andrew Benson at the University of California, Berkeley ....
 is the most common method of carbon fixation?

In plant
Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
s, there are three types of carbon fixation during photosynthesis:
  • C3
    C3 carbon fixation

    carbon fixation is a metabolic pathway for carbon fixation in photosynthesis. This process converts carbon dioxide and ribulose bisphosphate into 3-phosphoglycerate through the following reaction:...
     - plant that uses the Calvin Cycle
    Calvin cycle

    The Calvin cycle is a series of biochemistry reactions that take place in the Stroma of chloroplasts in photosynthesis organisms. It was discovered by Melvin Calvin, James Bassham and Andrew Benson at the University of California, Berkeley ....
     for the initial steps that incorporate CO2 into organic matter, forming a 3-carbon compound as the 1st stable intermediate. Most broadleaf plants and plants in the temperate zones are C3.
  • C4
    C4 carbon fixation

    C4 carbon fixation is one of three biochemical mechanisms, along with C3 carbon fixation and CAM photosynthesis, functioning in land plants to "fix" carbon dioxide for sugar production through photosynthesis....
     - plant that prefaces the Calvin Cycle
    Calvin cycle

    The Calvin cycle is a series of biochemistry reactions that take place in the Stroma of chloroplasts in photosynthesis organisms. It was discovered by Melvin Calvin, James Bassham and Andrew Benson at the University of California, Berkeley ....
     with reactions that incorporate CO2 into 4-carbon compound. C4 plants have a distinctive leaf anatomy. This pathway is found mostly in hot regions with intense sunlight. Tropical grasses, such as sugar cane and maize
    Maize

    Maize , known as corn in some countries, is a cereal domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents....
     are C4 plants, but there are many broadleaf plants that are C4.
  • CAM - plant that uses Crassulacean acid metabolism
    Crassulacean acid metabolism

    Crassulacean acid metabolism, also known as CAM photosynthesis, is an elaborate carbon fixation pathway in some plants. These plants fix carbon dioxide during the night, storing it as the four carbon acid malate....
     as an adaptation for arid conditions. CO2 entering the stomata during the night is converted into organic acids, which release CO2 for the Calvin Cycle during the day, when the stomate is closed. The jade plant (Crassula ovata
    Crassula

    Crassula is a large genus of plants containing many species, including the popular Jade Plant, Crassula ovata. They are native to many parts of the globe, but cultivated varieties are almost exclusively from the Eastern Cape of South Africa....
    ) and Cactus
    Cactus

    A cactus is any member of the spine plant family Cactaceae, native to the Americas. They are often used as ornamental plants, but some are also Crop plants....
     species are typical of CAM plants.


In addition to the Calvin cycle, the following alternative pathways are currently known to be used in certain autotrophic microorganisms:
  • Reverse Krebs cycle
    Reverse Krebs cycle

    The reverse Krebs cycle is a sequence of chemical reactions that are used by some bacteria to produce carbon compounds from carbon dioxide and water....
     (also known as the reverse tricarboxylic acid cycle, the reverse TCA cycle, or the reverse citric acid cycle). The reaction is basically the Citric acid cycle
    Citric acid cycle

    The citric acid cycle ? also known as the tricarboxylic acid cycle ; the Krebs cycle; or, more rarely, the Szent-Gy?rgyi-Krebs cycle) ? is a series of enzyme-catalysed chemical reactions of central importance in all living cell s that use oxygen as part of cellular respiration....
     run in reverse and is used by photolithoautotrophic eubacteria of the Chlorobiales and some chemolithoautotrophic sulfate-reducing bacteria.
  • Reductive acetyl CoA Pathway is found in methanogenic archaebacteria and in acetogenic and some sulfate-reducing eubacteria as a way of fixing carbon.
  • 3-Hydroxypropionate Pathway is found in photolithoautotrophically grown eubacteria of the genus Chloroflexus and in modified form in some chemolithoautotrophically grown archaebacteria as a way of fixing carbon.