Questions for Lecture 6:  Metabolism: Carbon Assimilation

•  By the end of your preparation on this topic, you should be able to:

    © 1. Discuss the three major steps (carboxylation, reduction and phosphorylation, and
               regeneration of the receptor molecule for CO2) in the formation of sugars from CO2.
 
       © 2. Discuss the contrasting carboxylase and oxygenase function of the enzyme RUBISCO
               (Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase and oxygenase):  Calvin cycle versus
              photorespiration.

       © 3. Describe the three different pathways for CO2 fixation in plants labeled as C-3,C-4 and
             CAM.

       © 4. Discuss how these different plants function in different environment (light intensity,
               temperature, CO2 and O2 concentrations, etc).

    © 5. Define the following concepts and terms:  Bundle sheath cells; Kranz
               anatomy;Phosphoglyceric Acid (a C-3 acid); Troise phosphate (a C-3 sugar); Ribu lose
               bisphosphate; Peroxisome; PEPC¹ase; Pyruvate (a C-4 intermediate);Malate.
 
• Outline of presentation :
            For outline of presentation and for the legends of figures, see  the Handbook for the course "Biology 121 Notes, Spring, 1998, University of Illinois, Plant Biology: Ecology and Organismic Plant Biology" by Govindjee, Stipes  Publishing, Champaign,IL.
 
    © Slides used in the class are to be found elsewhere on these Web pages.