Photorespiration occurs in which type of plants?

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Multiple Choice

Photorespiration occurs in which type of plants?

Photorespiration happens when Rubisco fixes oxygen instead of carbon dioxide, wasting energy and carbon. This is most evident in plants that do the Calvin cycle directly in the mesophyll without concentrating CO2 around Rubisco. Those are the C3 plants, which lack the mechanisms that keep CO2 levels high at the site of Rubisco. In CAM and C4 plants, CO2 is effectively concentrated near Rubisco (temporally in CAM, spatially in C4), so photorespiration is greatly reduced. C2 isn’t a standard plant type used to describe whole-plant photosynthesis in this context. So the plants in which photorespiration occurs under typical conditions are C3 plants.

Photorespiration happens when Rubisco fixes oxygen instead of carbon dioxide, wasting energy and carbon. This is most evident in plants that do the Calvin cycle directly in the mesophyll without concentrating CO2 around Rubisco. Those are the C3 plants, which lack the mechanisms that keep CO2 levels high at the site of Rubisco. In CAM and C4 plants, CO2 is effectively concentrated near Rubisco (temporally in CAM, spatially in C4), so photorespiration is greatly reduced. C2 isn’t a standard plant type used to describe whole-plant photosynthesis in this context. So the plants in which photorespiration occurs under typical conditions are C3 plants.

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