What provides the carbon atoms that are incorporated into sugar molecules in the Calvin cycle?

1 Answer
May 24, 2016

The carbon atoms come from carbon dioxide.

Explanation:

The Calvin cycle is a series of biochemical redox reactions that take place in in photosynthetic organisms.

The cell first captures the energy of light and uses it to make "ATP" and "NADPH".

The Calvin cycle then uses this energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate ("G3P") for use in other metabolic reactions.

Calvin CycleCalvin Cycle
(from www.thinglink.com)

The overall reaction for the Calvin cycle is:

"3CO"_2 + "6NADPH" + "9ATP" + "6H"^+ → underbrace("C"_3"H"_6"O"_3"-P")_color(red)("G3P") + "6NADP"^+ + "9ADP" + "8P"_i +"3H"_2"O"