51- RuBisCO, C4 and CAM

Photosynthesis has proven a useful tool in life's arsenal, but it isn't perfect. This is because one of its enzymes- RuBisCo for short- is not equipped to deal with our oxygenated world and as such sometimes creates toxic by-products which the organism then has to expend energy to deal with. However, some plants have evolved strategies to deal with this issue. Instead of simply working with vanilla-flavoured C3 photosynthesis, they have switched to alternative strategies known as C4 or CAM photosynthesis...

Sources for this episode:

• Cain, M. L., Bowman, W. D. and Hacker, S. D. (2011), Ecology (Second Edition). Sunderland, Massachusetts, Sinauer Associated Ltd.


• Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited.


• Hirst, K. K., ThoughtCo (Updated 13/11/2019), Adaptations to Climate Change in C3, C4 and CAM Plants (online) [Accessed 27/07/2021].


• Thain, M. and Hickman, M. (2014), Dictionary of Biology (Eleventh Edition). London: Penguin Books Ltd.