カルビン回路
"C3" plants use the Calvin cycle to fix carbon. C4 plants use a modified Calvin cycle in which they separate Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase (RuBisCO) from atmospheric oxygen, fixing carbon in their mesophyll cells and using oxaloacetate and malate to ferry the fixed carbon to RuBisCO and the rest of the Calvin cycle enzymes isolated in the bundle-sheath cells. The intermediate compounds both contain four carbon atoms, which gives "C4". In Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), time isolates functioning RuBisCO (and the other Calvin cycle enzymes) from high oxygen concentrations produced by photosynthesis, in that O2 is evolved during the day, and allowed to dissipate then, while at night atmospheric CO2 is taken up and stored as malic or other acids. During the day, CAM plants close stomata and use stored acids as carbon sources for sugar, etc. production.