Calvin cycle
The Calvin cycle (also known as the Calvin–Benson cycle) is the set of chemical reactions that take place in chloroplasts during photosynthesis.
The cycle is light-independent because it takes place after the energy has been captured from sunlight.
The Calvin cycle is named after Melvin Calvin, who won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for finding it in 1961.[1] Calvin and his colleagues did the work at the University of California, Berkeley.[2]
Context[change]
Using the radioactive carbon-14 isotope as a tracer, Calvin, Andrew Benson and their team mapped the complete route that carbon travels through a plant during photosynthesis. They traced the carbon-14 from its absorption as atmospheric carbon dioxide to its conversion into carbohydrates and other organic compounds.[3][4] The single-celled algae Chlorella was used to trace the carbon-14.[5]
The Calvin group showed that sunlight acts on the chlorophyll in a plant to fuel the manufacture of organic compounds, not directly on carbon dioxide as previously believed.
Steps[change]
Source:[6]
1. Grab: A five-carbon carbon catcher catches one molecule of carbon dioxide and forms a six-carbon molecule.
2. Split: the enzyme RuBisCO (with the energy of ATP and NADPH molecules) breaks the six-carbon molecule into two equal parts.
3. Leave: A trio of three carbons leave and become sugar. The other trio moves on to the next step.
4. Switch: Using ATP and NADPH, the three carbon molecule is changed into a five carbon molecule.
5. The cycle starts over again.
The carbohydrate products of the Calvin cycle are three-carbon sugar phosphate molecules, or 'triose phosphates' (G3P). Each step of the cycle has its own enzyme which speeds up the reaction.
References[change]
- ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1961 Melvin Calvin". nobelprize.org. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1961/. Retrieved January 14, 2011.
- ↑ Bassham J, Benson A, Calvin M (1950). "The path of carbon in photosynthesis". J Biol Chem 185 (2): 781–7. PMID 14774424. http://www.jbc.org/cgi/reprint/185/2/781.pdf.
- ↑ CALVIN, M (1956), "The photosynthetic cycle.", Bull. Soc. Chim. Biol. 38 (11): 1233–44, 1956 Dec 7, PMID 13383309
- ↑ Barker, S A; Bassham, J A; Calvin, M; Quarck, U C (1956), "Intermediates in the photosynthetic cycle.", Biochim. Biophys. Acta 21 (2): 376–7, 1956 Aug, doi:10.1016/0006-3002(56)90022-1, PMID 13363921
- ↑ Melvin Calvin (December 11, 1961). "The path of carbon in photosynthesis" (PDF). p. 4. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1961/calvin-lecture.pdf. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
- ↑ Sadava, David; H. Craig Heller, David M. Hillis, May Berenbaum (2009). Life: The Science of Biology. Macmillan Publishers. pp. 199–202. ISBN 1429219629.
