Carbon metabolism in the Calvin cycle

Abstract

In order to study the regulation of photosynthetic carbon flow in higher plants, many researchers have created and analyzed transgenic plants that had reduced or increased respective enzyme activity involved in the Calvin cycle, sucrose synthesis and starch metabolism. We have succeeded in enhancing the photosynthetic carbon fixation capacity by introducing certain enzymes, fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase and/or sedoheptulose-1,7-bisphosphatase, involved in the Calvin cycle. In this review, we discuss that the contribution of some enzymes and processes to controlling the metabolic flux and storage of carbohydrates and plant growth using transgenic plants. These results lead to a reassessment of ideas about the regulation of carbon metabolism and have consequences for design of bioengineering strategies to increase crop productivity in plants.