====== RuBisCO anomaly ======

//RuBisCO// (full name : Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase) is a crucial enzyme involved in the conversion of CO<sub>2</sub> into sugars during photosynthesis. Without it, photosynthesising plants (and all other organisms which depend on plants, or require oxygen) could not exist. It's so widespread, some have called it //'The most common enzyme on Earth'.//

Under well-lit conditions, the enzyme bonds with Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere - but,// around 25% of the time it links to Oxygen instead. //The plant then needs to go through a complex set of conversions to eliminate the (apparently unwanted) oxygenated products.

Some researchers assert that the O<sub>2 </sub>absorbtion - known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photorespiration|Photorespiration]] - is, in effect, a 'faulty' process somehow locked into the plants' evolution in the distant past.

Others point to possible benefits - e.g. that it may play a role in facilitating Nitrogen assimilation from the soil.

A third viewpoint is that the O<sub>2 </sub>absorption process serves some as-yet-undiscovered purpose.

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Also see : [[content:life_sciences:botany:photosynthesis]] and [[content:life_sciences:botany:oxygen_process|]]

~~stars>3/5~~