Understanding the biochemistry of C3 photosynthesis in crop plants

All photosynthetic organisms use the C3 (Calvin-Benson) cycle to fix atmospheric CO2 into organic compounds needed for the development and growth of the plant. In higher plants, the reactions of this pathway in plants take place in the chloroplast stroma of green tissues, predominantly in the leaves. Energy in the form of ATP and NADPH, needed to drive this cycle, is generated by the light reactions of photosynthesis that take place on the thylakoid membranes. The steps in this cycle were first elucidated in the 1950s by Calvin, Benson, Bassham and colleagues (see for a recent historical perspective Sharkey, 2019), and the enzymes involved were identified and catalytic properties determined during the 1970s and 1980s (Leegood, 1990). In photosynthetic eukaryotes, there are 11 different enzymes in the C3 cycle catalysing 13 reactions, and the cycle can be divided in response to 3 phases: carboxylation …