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Question 20 of 25

Q.Phosphoenol pyruvate is the primary CO2 acceptor in:

(a) C2 plants
(b) C3 plants
(c) C3 and C4 plants
(d) C4 plants
Tamil Nadu DgeTamil Nadu HSC First Year (DGE) Board 2024MCQ· 1mImportance★★★★★
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Phosphoenol pyruvate (PEP) is the primary CO2 acceptor of the C4 (Hatch–Slack) pathway found in C4 plants such as maize and sugarcane.

C4 plants have a distinctive leaf anatomy (Kranz anatomy) with two photosynthetic cell types — mesophyll cells and bundle sheath cells. CO2 fixation happens in two stages, spatially separated between these two cell types:

  1. In the mesophyll cells, atmospheric CO2 (as bicarbonate) combines with the 3-carbon acceptor phosphoenol pyruvate (PEP), catalysed by the enzyme PEP carboxylase, forming the 4-carbon compound oxaloacetic acid (OAA) — hence the name 'C4 pathway'. OAA is then converted to malic acid or aspartic acid.
  2. This 4-carbon acid is transported into the bundle sheath cells, where it is decarboxylated to release CO2. This CO2 is then fixed a second time by RuBisCO via the ordinary Calvin cycle (C3 pathway, whose acceptor is RuBP), which operates in the bundle sheath. …

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