Fact Archive

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The most abundant protein on Earth

Rubisco is an essential protein used in photosynthesis to fix atmospheric CO2 into sugars, and it's often claimed to be the most abundant protein on earth. It has been estimated that there are 5 kg of Rubisco per person on Earth. However, Rubisco is also an infamously slow and inefficient protein, prone to fixing O2 instead of CO2 hence why some plants have evolved special mechanisms to improve carbon fixation by Rubisco.

Some plants photosynthesize at night

Plants use the energy of the sun to make food through the process of photosynthesis, right? So surely photosynthesis can only happen when the sun is out? Actually, many desert plants use a special form of photosynthesis known as Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). Such plants still collect energy from the sun during the day to fuel photosynthesis. However, gas exchange, i.e. the entry of CO2, needed for photosynthesis, only happens at night, allowing such plants to be much more water efficient.